Ontario’s incoming government has promised one of the biggest changes to recycling rules, starting next year. Needless to say, this decision has been met with sharply divergent reactions from environmental advocates and industry stakeholders. The revisions aim to streamline regulations across the province, but critics argue the changes could undermine progress in waste reduction and recycling efficiency.
Under the new regulations, producers are now required to include non-recyclable materials that are burned. These materials count toward up to 15% of their recycling goals. This change is the result of a compromise that represents a weakening of the original Hensarling proposal that would have imposed much more rigorous accountability on producers. This was a major point environment minister Todd McCarthy’s spokesperson reiterated as an overall goal. They believe that all Ontario residents deserve a consistent regulatory framework that the blue box changes would provide.
In a commendable show of government brass, they decided to postpone the enforcement of a new hard target. This target only applies to recycling non-alcoholic beverage containers in residential blue recycling bins. This delay follows warnings from state, local, tribal, and environmental advocates alike that meeting compliance would be impossible within the originally proposed timeline.
Perhaps the most impactful change is eliminating the registration requirement for beverage manufacturers. They are exempted from being responsible for containers consumed off premises in multi-residential environments until 2031. This troubling change has raised alarm with environmental advocates. They focus on the key fundamental issue of demand and accountability for all waste produced in single-family homes.
The province’s initial proposal indicated a much broader cut of responsibilities to producers. This amendment focuses specifically on improving the materials collection from multi-residential buildings, long-term care homes, retirement homes and schools. This important requirement will now be postponed indefinitely.
Now Ontario’s government is rolling back targets for recycling flexible plastics. This covers products such as food wraps, pouches and films that aren’t recyclable in curbside programs. Producers must now make “best efforts” to meet certain recycling rates of 80% for paper and 50% for rigid plastic. This provision will only be enforced over the next two years. The government, in its original proposal, had asked for enforcement to be delayed by five years.
Grocers from one end of the province to the other are sounding the alarm. Beautiful Recycling new requirements Beginning January 1, all alcohol retailers will be required to accept empty containers of any brand. As many have noted, it is an unreasonable burden to place on their operations.
Environmental advocates from across the country have raised concerns about the ambitious timeline for implementation, as well as the rollbacks in recycling standards. Karen Wirsig, senior program manager for plastics with Environmental Defence, criticized the government’s approach, stating, “Why aren’t producers working with multi-residential buildings to make sure that residents in those buildings get the same service as everybody else across the province?”
Wirsig further lamented the lack of equitable service provision for multi-residential residents, highlighting that, “Let’s remember that the goal of the blue box changes was, in part, from a public point of view, to have one consistent regulation and regime for all residents across the province. That is now not the case for multi-residential residents — until some aspirational deadline of 2031.”
Sebastian Prins, the director of government relations for the Ontario region of the Retail Council of Canada, said producers were happy to receive the additional two-year grace period for flexible plastics. He cautioned against the things that could face them down the road. “I think everyone who uses flexible plastic is happy that they added in those two extra years of best efforts,” he said. He expressed skepticism about the government’s grasp on the complexities of waste management: “(But) we still don’t think government particularly knows up from down on this file.”
The government attributes its decision to delay and revise these recycling regulations to sharply rising costs associated with recycling operations. Inflation, labor shortages, and supply chain snags are causing this push to change course. These underlying factors have been pointed to as the primary drivers of the shift.
