{"id":7723,"date":"2023-02-02T07:33:13","date_gmt":"2023-02-02T12:33:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/evnia.com\/ontarios-changes-to-its-blue-box-program-what-does-this-mean-for-businesses-that-sell-products-in-ontario\/"},"modified":"2025-08-06T10:03:22","modified_gmt":"2025-08-06T14:03:22","slug":"ontarios-changes-to-its-blue-box-program-what-does-this-mean-for-businesses-that-sell-products-in-ontario","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/evnia.com\/en\/ontarios-changes-to-its-blue-box-program-what-does-this-mean-for-businesses-that-sell-products-in-ontario\/","title":{"rendered":"Ontario\u2019s changes to its Blue Box Program: What does this mean for businesses that sell products in Ontario?"},"content":{"rendered":"\t\t
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2023.03.14<\/p>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t

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Ontario\u2019s changes to its Blue Box Program: What does this mean for businesses that sell products in Ontario?<\/h2>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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For several years, the Government of Ontario has proposed many initiatives and legislation to transition to a waste-free province.<\/p>

However, recent changes to the legislation and what governing bodies oversee Ontario\u2019s initiatives are shaking up things for businesses that sell products in Ontario\u2014whether or not the manufacturers are located in the province.<\/p>

Let\u2019s take a look at them in more detail.<\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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Changements apport\u00e9s \u00e0 la r\u00e9glementation sur les bo\u00eetes bleues en Ontario<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t
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The first significant change is the Government of Ontario\u2019s amendments<\/a> to its Blue Box Regulation, which are slated to be rolled out from 2023 to 2025. Finalized in June 2022, Ontario\u2019s Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks issued a direction to the Resource Productivity and Recovery Authority (RPRA) and Stewardship Ontario to start  the transition of the management of the Blue Box Program.<\/a><\/p>\n

What does this mean for businesses? Suppose they produce packaging and products sold in Ontario. In that case, they will become fully accountable and financially responsible for collecting, recycling, and recover their products and packaging when consumers dispose of them. It is considered an Individual Producer Responsibility (IPR) plan. <\/p>\n

The materials included in the Blue Box Regulation are mainly: glass, flexible or rigid plastics, paper, metal, or any combination of these items. The  complete definition and examples of materials <\/a> can be found online.<\/p>\n

Blue Box producers are defined<\/a>  as any person or business that supplies Blue Box packaging (or packaging-like products made with the aforementioned list of materials) to consumers in Ontario. An important note: even if a producer is not situated in Ontario<\/b>, it must adhere to the Blue Box Regulation. The regulation also extends to companies that sell goods online and ship to Ontario, drastically increasing the number of Blue Box producers worldwide.<\/p>\n

All manufacturers that become Blue Box producers must register with the RPRA.<\/b><\/p>\t\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t<\/section>\n\t\t\t\t

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New reporting mechanisms for Blue Box producers<\/h3>\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t<\/div>\n\t\t\t\t
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As part of the new Blue Box regulation, Blue Box producers will have to provide the RPRA with extensive resource recovery reports<\/a> each year on the amount of materials they supply to Ontario markets and the amount of materials collected, processed, reused or recycled. The data in these reports will also be used to determine the level of materials Blue Box producers are required to collect and manage the following year. <\/p>

Although not obligatory, Blue Box producers can also sign up with a certified producer responsibility organization (PRO). A PRO is an RPRA-certified business<\/a> contracted by a Blue Box producer for data collection, management and administrative services to comply with the new Blue Box regulations. One important caveat: PROs do not assist Blue Box producers in generating their annual reports.<\/b> It is recommended that Blue Box producers work with experienced environmental compliance consulting firms.<\/a> <\/p>

The RPRA\u2019s deadline for 2022 supply data reporting is May 31, 2023. Subsequently, Blue Box producers must pay the program fees when they submit their reports. The RPRA just issued the program fees<\/a> for the Blue Box Program in December 2023: <\/p>