On April 12, 2018, the Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks directed Stewardship Ontario (SO) to wind up the Municipal Hazardous or Special Waste (MHSW) Program to enable the transition of hazardous or special materials to the individual producer responsibility (IPR) regulatory framework outlined in the Resource Recovery and Circular Economy Act, 2016 (RRCEA).
The IPR regulatory framework makes producers accountable for their products and packaging once consumers are finished with them; sets mandatory and enforceable requirements for resource recovery; and gives producers choices for resource recovery services in a competitive market.
The operation of the MHSW Program for all designated materials under the Waste Diversion and Transition Act, 2016 (WDTA) ceased on September 30, 2021, and on October 1, 2021, the Hazardous and Special Products (HSP) Regulation came into effect.
The program for single-use batteries wound up on June 30, 2020, and on July 1, 2020, requirements for single-use and rechargeable batteries were transitioned to the Batteries Regulation. Visit our Batteries program page for more information.
Stewardship Ontario will continue to work with service providers and stewards to help them finalize arrangements related to the termination of the MHSW Program. Final steps and key dates for MHSW are available in these summaries for stewards and service providers. If you have questions relating to the wind up of the MHSW Program, contact SO directly at mhswwindup@stewardshipontario.ca.
Wind up process
Under the WDTA the Authority is responsible for overseeing the orderly wind up of legacy waste diversion programs and the industry funding organizations responsible for managing those programs.
On December 27, 2019, the Authority approved SO’s MHSW Wind-up Plan with conditions. Read the approval letter. In 2020, the Authority approved two addendums to the Wind Up Plan related to the distribution of residual funds and surplus funds that SO was directed by the Minister to develop.
The MHSW Program had previously been directed to wind up on June 30, 2021, but in April 2021, the wind-up date was extended to September 30, 2021, by Minister’s direction. The Authority approved SO’s MHSW Wind Up Plan: Program Extension Addendum, which outlines the necessary changes to the MHSW Wind Up Plan, including required revisions to reporting deadlines for stakeholders and updated financial information in relation to the three-month extension of program operations. For more information about previous MHSW consultations, visit the past consultations page.