Continuous Improvement Fund
The Continuous Improvement Fund (CIF) is a partnership between Stewardship Ontario, the Association of Municipalities of Ontario (AMO), the City of Toronto, and the Resource Productivity and Recovery Authority (RPRA). The CIF commenced operations on May 1, 2008, with a mandate to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of Ontario’s municipal blue box programs. As part of the Blue Box transition, in December 2020 RPRA approved the CIF Wind Up Plan.
The CIF provided grants and loans to municipalities to execute projects to increase the efficiency of municipal Blue Box recycling and help boost system effectiveness. RPRA determined the amount of the annual municipal obligation that is passed along to the CIF.
The CIF Wind Up Plan includes the following timeline:
- cease provision of grants as of September 30, 2021;
- continue delivery of transitional and program support services with emphasis being placed on transitional support activities up until December 31, 2024;
- cease public operations on December 31, 2024 and initiate a windup of its operations in 2025 with an expectation that such activities will be completed by no later than June 30, 2025; or,
- give consideration to extending operations by one year, subject to the availability of sufficient funds to do so.