2012 Blue Box Rules and Fee Schedule Now Approved and Available!

The 2012 Blue Box Rules and Fee Schedule have been approved by Stewardship Ontario’s Board of Directors and the Board of Waste Diversion Ontario. The 2012 Blue Box Rules make some fundamental changes to the steward reporting and payment processes.

A copy of the approved 2012 Blue Box Rules and Fee Schedule are available here. Please note that Appendix A sets out the Blue Box reporting categories and fee schedule and Appendix C of the Rules provides a 2012 Reporting and Payment Schedule for your convenience. A detailed Q&A about the 2012 Rules is also available here.

1. Reporting deadline is now July 31st. The new rules provide stewards with four additional months to verify and file your annual steward report. Please note that on or before July 31, 2012 stewards will need to report their 2011 sales data to Stewardship Ontario.
    
2. Steward invoices will be calculated based on the previous year’s reports. This change increases the budgeting predictability for stewards because you will know by Q4 (when the final fee schedule is published), the fee rates for your payments in the upcoming year, since they will be based on your previous year’s sales data. It also stabilizes Stewardship Ontario’s fee-setting process enabling the use of actual steward reported sales data instead of the historical use of estimated sales data.
    
3. Stewardship Ontario will calculate stewards’ 2012 fee invoices based on your 2010 data year. Your Submission Detail Report will be available to view on the WeRecycle portal by February 1, 2012. The first invoice, representing 25% of fees owing, will be emailed to stewards on April 1, 2012 and will be due April 30, 2012.
    
4. New Guidebooks will provide more clarity for stewards on reporting requirements, definitions of materials categories, calculation methodology and more. Stewards asked for clearer material definitions and helpful examples, as well as clarity on the kind of information that they are being asked to report, decision trees to assist in determining your stewardship obligation, and standards for determining the amount of material supplied into the Ontario marketplace.

   Please note that the new Guidebooks are expected to be available to stewards by mid-February. Watch for announcements.

Thank You!

Stewardship Ontario would like to thank those stewards who provided the many thoughtful and constructive submissions during our many Blue Box consultation sessions this year. Your suggestions on the recommended rules and the fee schedule have substantively contributed to the Blue Box Program’s continuous improvement. Stewardship Ontario is sensitive to stewards’ concerns about the complexity of the fee setting methodology and we will therefore initiate a new review of the formula in 2012, with a view to making it more simple and straightforward, while continuing to uphold the principle of fairness and equity.

We look forward to continuing our ongoing dialogue with you in 2012.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact our Steward Services Representatives at 1.888.288.3360 or 416-323-0101.