This bulletin is Part 1 of our three-part series on proposed changes to Ontario's evolving extended producer responsibility ("EPR") regimes and provides an overview of recently proposed amendments to the Resource Recovery and Circular Economy Act (the "Act") and its impacts on producers and Producer Responsibility Organizations ("PROs") involved in Ontario's EPR programs.
On June 4, 2025, the Ontario government published a proposal and proposed amendments to the Act intended to address higher-than-expected costs and improve transparency, cost disclosure and collection of recyclable materials in Ontario, as part of its EPR regimes. The proposed amendments to the Act come at the same time as proposed amendments to the Blue Box regulation (the "Regulation") under the Act (read more in Part 2) and guidance published by RPRA relating to Ontario's collection system requirements and minimum management requirements (read more in Part 3).
Public consultation on the proposed amendments to the Act is open until July 21, 2025. Public consultation on the proposed amendments to the Regulation and draft guidance is discussed in Part 2 and Part 3.
Background
The Act implements EPR in Ontario for producers supplying designated products to consumers that end up in the residential waste stream at their end of life. The Act also creates and governs the operation of the body regulating these programs, being the Resource Productivity and Recovery Authority ("RPRA"). Regulations under the Act set out program requirements for the management, collection and recycling of designated materials, specifically the Blue Box, Batteries, Electrical and Electronic Equipment ("EEE"), Hazardous and Special Products ("HSP") and Tires programs.
Proposed Amendments
There are three main amendments to the Act proposed:
- Allowing the Minister of Environment, Conservation and Parks (the "Minister") by order to require RPRA to collect certain information, documents and data from producers, including contracts, invoices, financial and operational information and correspondence. These proposed amendments are intended to improve transparency, cost disclosure and collection of obligated materials so that the Minister has information that would allow it to assess the effectiveness of the regime and consider potential reforms. Given that a PRO is engaged to carry out a producer's compliance under the Act, most of this information would likely come from the PRO, some of which would originally be supplied from the obligated producer.
- Enabling the government to make regulations requiring designated persons, including producers and PROs, to provide information to RPRA, the public or others that are party to an agreement under the Act. These proposed amendments are intended to create more transparency for producers in understanding their PRO's invoices and their options when engaging a PRO.
- Enabling the government to make regulations that require PROs to make an offer to provide collection and management services to municipalities or other prescribed entities like small businesses, including the circumstances, terms and conditions of such offer. These proposed amendments are to address the loss of blue box services to municipalities and small businesses when the recycling systems in Ontario are fully transitioned to the Blue Box program under the Act.
The proposed amendments state that the information required to be provided to RPRA is to be kept in confidence, except for the purpose of evaluating the effectiveness of (1) the Act and its regulations, and (2) policy respecting resource recovery and waste reduction in Ontario. However, given that the stated purpose in the proposal is to provide transparency to the public and producers engaging PROs, it is unclear whether the confidentiality will be restricted to commercially sensitive information, to balance the transparency objectives.
Further, while many EPR programs in Canada are a single-PRO model, meaning there is only one PRO operating the entire collection and management system in the province, Ontario's EPR programs are all multi-PRO model systems allowing multiple PROs to compete for producer business. If PRO pricing, operational and other business information for the purpose of further transparency to the public and producers is in fact disclosed, it may also create a challenge for PROs, in particular, their ability to obtain competitive pricing from service providers and remain competitive in the market.
The proposed amendments to the Act seek to address concerns raised by obligated parties and the public regarding the transparency and operation of Ontario's EPR programs currently in effect. Stakeholders impacted by these changes are encouraged to make submissions while the consultation period remains open.
The foregoing provides only an overview and does not constitute legal advice. Readers are cautioned against making any decisions based on this material alone. Rather, specific legal advice should be obtained.
© McMillan LLP 2025
