Stewardship Ontario continues its work to meet the conditions attached to the recent conditional approval of the simplified fee-setting proposal for the Blue Box program and finalizing the Rules for Stewards and the Policy that will guide implementation.
It is expected that the Resource Productivity & Recovery Authority (RPRA) will consider the matter in the next few weeks. A further update will be provided as soon as possible and in the interim stewards are advised to not submit 2021 kilograms for designated paper and packaging materials to Stewardship Ontario via the WeRecycle Portal.
With Simplified Fees, most stewards will not be required to submit detailed material reports to Stewardship Ontario for the remaining years of the program, which ceases operations in 2025. Annual fees will be calculated from each steward’s budget share, with the percentage based on individual steward fees for invoice years 2021 and 2022 (2019 and 2020 sales data years).
Note that most stewards (referred to as producers under the new Blue Box Regulation), will likely be required to submit 2021 designated material information to RPRA. Stewards should refer to the RPRA website for additional details including, reporting deadlines. Consultation on the draft program Rules and Policy was completed in March. The drafts, along with the Addendum to the Blue Box Program Transition Plan and related documents are available on the Stewardship Ontario website.