Information for consumers about environmental fees on products sold in Ontario can be found on Ontario Recycles.
Ontario Recycles was created by RPRA in 2026 to keep the public informed about the circular economy and recycling in Ontario.
Topic: Environmental Fees
Is an environmental fee a tax?
No. An environmental fee is not a government tax and cannot be represented as mandatory, a regulatory charge, or a RPRA fee. It is a fee charged at the discretion of a business to recover their costs related to recycling the product.
Consumers who believe the purpose of an environmental fee is being misrepresented can contact the Ministry of Public and Business Service Delivery directly at 1-800-889-9768.
How much can be charged as an environmental fee?
The regulations do not set an environmental fee for any product. The amount of the fee charged is decided by the business.
What are the rules around charging an environmental fee?
Consumer protection laws in Ontario prohibit the misrepresentation of charges, which means that producers or retailers cannot misrepresent any visible fees as a regulatory charge, tax, RPRA fee or something similar.
Can businesses charge consumers an environmental fee?
Businesses have the choice to recover the cost of recycling their products by incorporating those costs into the overall cost of their product (as they do with other costs, such as materials, labour, other regulatory compliance costs, etc.) or by charging it as a separate fee to consumers.
Environmental fees are not mandatory and are applied at the discretion of the business charging them, including the amount of the fee.