RPRA will accept a report that substantiates the total Blue Box material weight deductions based on the customer’s recorded response to “Will you eat in or take out?” for all locations. Reports must be retained either in electronic or paper format for five years and be provided upon request for verification by RPRA.
Topic: Producer
Am I a lighting producer?
A person is considered a lighting producer under the Electrical and Electronic Equipment (EEE) Regulation if they supply lighting into Ontario and:
- Are the brand holder for the lighting and have residency in Canada;
- If there is no resident brand holder, have residency in Ontario and import lighting from outside of Ontario;
- If there is no resident importer, have residency in Ontario and market directly to consumers in Ontario (e.g. online sales); or
- If there is no resident marketer, do not have residency in Ontario and market directly to consumers in Ontario (e.g., online sales).
Even if you do not meet the above definition, there may be circumstances where you qualify as a producer. Read the Electrical and Electronic Equipment Regulation for more detail or contact the Compliance and Registry Team for guidance at registry@rpra.ca or (647) 496-0530 or toll-free at (833) 600-0530.
See our FAQ to understand “What is lighting under the EEE Regulation?”, “Who is a brand holder?”
What is a brand supply list?
A brand supply list is a list of brands of obligated products that a producer supplies to consumers in Ontario. A producer must provide a brand supply list that makes up their supply data annually to RPRA. Each program has different requirements regarding how a producer must submit a brand supply list. For more information, consult the applicable programs’ walkthrough guide or contact RPRA’s Compliance and Registry Team at 1-833-600-0530 or by emailing registry@rpra.ca.
Do producers need to provide collection services to new facilities, including new multi-residential facilities, during the transition period? Is a municipality’s natural growth accommodated during the transition period?
Producers are obligated to provide collection services to new facilities that come into existence during the transition period only if that facility would have qualified for collection services under the WDTA Blue Box Program.
For further certainty, the WDTA Blue Box Program includes collection services for multi-family households (including rental, cooperative or condominium residential), senior citizen residences, long-term care facilities and public and private elementary and secondary schools.
Do producers need to provide collection services to new single-family residences during the transition period? Is a municipality’s natural growth accommodated during the transition period?
Yes, producers are obligated to provide collection services to new single-family residences that come into existence during the transition period.
What are certified compostable products and packaging?
In the Blue Box Regulation, certified compostable products and packaging is defined as material that:
- is only capable of being processed by composting, anaerobic digestion or other processes that result in decomposition by bacteria or other living organisms, and
- is certified compostable by an international, national, or industry standard that is listed in this procedure.
All certified compostable products and packaging reported by producers must be certified under one of the following standards:
- CAN/BNQ 0017-088: Specifications for Compostable Plastics
- ISO 17088: Specifications for compostable plastics
- ASTM D6400: Standard Specification for Labeling of Plastics Designed to be Aerobically Composted in Municipal or Industrial Facilities
- ASTM D6868: Standard Specification for Labeling of End Items that Incorporate Plastics and Polymers as Coatings or Additives with Paper and Other Substrates Designed to be Aerobically Composted in Municipal or Industrial Facilities
- EN 13432: Requirements for packaging recoverable through composting and biodegradation – Test scheme and evaluation criteria for the final acceptance of packaging
As a producer or municipality, do the 2022 Blue Box Regulation amendments change anything for me?
For most producers and for all municipalities, little has changed:
- Rule creators and the rule creation process, including the allocation table, have been removed. Instead, each producer is responsible for providing Blue Box collection to every eligible source in Ontario and creating a province-wide system for collection.
- Producer Responsibility Organizations (PROs) are now required to submit a report to RPRA on how they will operate the Blue Box system on behalf of producers.
- Newspaper producers whose newspaper supply accounts for more than 70% of their total Blue Box supply to consumers in Ontario are exempt from collection, management, and promotion and education requirements.
The amendments do not change or impact:
- Producer registration or 2020 supply data reporting to RPRA
- Most producers’ 2021 supply data reporting to RPRA
- The materials collected in the Blue Box system
- The communities that receive collection or the collection requirements
- The transition schedule and its timelines
What has replaced the Rule Creation process in the amended Blue Box Regulation?
With the removal of the rule creation process and allocation table as the tools to create and maintain the Blue Box collection system, the amended regulation now requires producer responsibility organizations (PROs) to submit a report that outlines how they will operate the Blue Box collection system on behalf of producers, ensuring that materials are collected from all eligible communities (i.e., communities outside of the Far North) across the province.
Circular Materials Ontario and Ryse Solutions Ontario PROs submitted a Blue Box PRO initial report to RPRA on July 1, 2022, that provides the following information:
- A description of how they will comply with the collection requirements of the regulation, including any agreements between themselves and any other PRO
- A detailed description of how they will make collected Blue Box materials available for processing, how materials will be processed, and the expected location of receiving facilities in Ontario
- A description of how they will comply with the promotion and education requirements of the regulation
You can read the news release and the initial report here.
How do I register and report if I am a newspaper producer?
For the purpose of reporting annual supply data under the Blue Box Regulation, the weight of newspaper must be reported in the appropriate material categories. For example, newsprint must be reported in the ‘paper’ category, while any protective plastic wrapping must be reported as ‘flexible plastic’.
Then, producers will be asked to indicate what percentage of their total Blue Box material supply was newspaper, including any protective wrapping and supplemental advertisements and inserts, in that calendar year.
See our FAQs: “What is a newspaper?” and “Who is a newspaper producer?”
What is a newspaper?
A newspaper is a regularly (usually daily or weekly) printed document consisting of large, folded, stapled or unstapled, sheets of paper containing news reports, articles, photographs, and advertisements. Newspapers include broadsheet, tabloid, and free newspaper categories.
Newspapers have traditionally been published in print on low-grade paper known as newsprint. However, not all documents printed on newsprint are considered newspapers. For example, flyers printed on newsprint quality paper supplied separately from newspapers are not newspapers for the purpose of supply data reporting under the Blue Box Regulation.
For the purpose of supply reporting, newspapers include any supplemental advertisements and inserts that are provided with/inserted in them (e.g., a flyer or circular that is placed within the folds of a newspaper). Inserts may be composed of any material including, but not limited to, paper. See the FAQ: How do newspaper producers report their supply of newspapers?
Note that magazines are not considered newspapers; a magazine is a periodical publication containing articles and illustrations, typically covering a particular subject or area of interest, and printed on high-quality paper.
Are foam insulating containers included under the HSP Regulation?
While foam insulating containers were included under the MHSW Program, the HSP Regulation defines a non-refillable pressurized container as a pressurized container that is used for the supply of a gas product.
Foam insulation containers are used to supply an insulating foam, which is not a ‘gas product,’ and therefore they do not meet the definition of a non-refillable pressurized container under the HSP Regulation.
What do I do if I think a business is a free rider?
We encourage anybody who believes an entity is a free rider to contact RPRA’s Compliance and Registry Team at 1-833-600-0530 or by emailing registry@rpra.ca with information about that entity. RPRA reviews every free rider allegation that is referred to us.
We do not share information about our inspections or progress on specific free rider cases.
See our FAQ to understand “What is a free rider?” and “What is RPRA’s approach to free riders?”
What is RPRA’s approach to free riders?
RPRA takes a risk-based and proportional approach to compliance. This approach focuses on the potential risks that arise from non-compliance and assessing those risks to guide the use of compliance tools and the deployment of resources to minimize risk and maximize compliance. Learn more about RPRA’s Risk-Based Compliance Framework.
As a provincial regulator, we have the following powers to bring non-compliant parties into compliance:
- Broad inquiry powers including authority to compel documents and data
- Inspections and investigations
- Audits
- Compliance Orders and Administrative Penalty Orders (amounts to be set in regulation once finalized)
- Prosecution
RPRA’s primary approach to compliance is through communications (C4C – Communicating for Compliance). RPRA communicates directly with obligated parties and informs them of their requirements and when and how they must be completed. A high degree of compliance is achieved with this approach.
RPRA considers free riders a high priority to the programs we administer and focuses compliance efforts on bringing free riders into compliance with the regulations.
See our FAQ to understand “What is a free rider?”, and “What do I do if I think a business is a free rider?”