recycling

August 2019 -  The Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks issued direction to RPRA and Stewardship Ontario to begin to transition the management of Ontario’s Blue Box Program to producers of plastic and other packaging. This will enable the transition of materials collected under the program to individual producer responsibility under the Resource Recovery and Circular Economy Act, 2016.

 Learn more and read the Minister’s direction letters here!

Call for Papers: Interested in presenting at the 2020 CWRC?

This conference is of primary interest to waste generators, stewards, brand owners, municipalities, private waste sector companies and property management companies. If you are involved in any of the following; you will gain insight and be able to share ideas with facility owners and operators, regulators and policymakers, academia and students.

Presentations at the conference will be assigned to different ‘tracks’ outlined in the Call for Papers form. Speaking opportunities include: general sessions, opening keynotes, a closing speaker. Members of the CWRC Annual Conference Committee are responsible for ranking proposals, speakers, and timelines of topics. Share your insight and knowledge by presenting a paper at the 11th Canadian Waste to Resource Conference (CWRC). Conference speakers gain visibility in the sector, as well as contribute to the advancement of the profession. Presentation papers relating to all areas of waste management will be considered.

The deadline for submission of papers is February 7th, 2020.

Call for Poster Presentations: Submit your research and/or study for presentation at the 2020 CWRC!

Each year the CWRC provides an opportunity for professors and students to
showcase their research to waste and recycling sector experts from government,
municipalities and leading waste management organizations. Poster presenters will have a chance to present their findings during the conference in the poster exhibit area located in a central event space

The CWRC is recognized across the country as “the place to be” for waste management professionals, providing exposure opportunities for research outcomes and for students, or academia looking to establish links within the sector.

The deadline to submit your poster presentation is August 15, 2020.

The second round of blue box transition stakeholder working groups is taking place this week. OWMA is a member of the ‘Circular Economy’ working group with other service provider representatives. The second meeting of the working group will be focusing on the materials to be covered by the proposed regulation and the materials to be collected in the blue box framework. Discussion will also take place around collection options and preferences. The government is maintaining a tight timeline to develop a draft printed paper 7 packaging regulation.

OWMA has responded to an Environmental Registry of Ontario (ERO) posting to change the mandate of the Resource Productivity and Recovery Authority (RPRA) to include digital reporting services through its registry for a wider range of waste and resource recovery programs. This proposal would establish RPRA functions beyond the current oversight and regulatory role for extended producer responsibility (EPR) regulations and programs. Key in the proposal is to transition the Hazardous Waste Information network (HWIN) to RPRA to facilitate an updating of the HWIN system including electronic manifesting and data collection. OWMA has confirmed the need to update HWIN and highlighted the current inefficiencies of the system.

OWMA has supported the expansion of the RPRA mandate and the transition of the HWIN system to RPRA. 

KC Recycling, a Pacific Northwest recycler of cathode-ray tube (CRT) glass from old televisions, lead-acid batteries, and electronic scrap, is adding capacity to manage all of Canada’s scrap CRT glass.

In order to expand capacity, the company is adding an additional shift to the production schedule, creating new jobs in the Kootenay region of British Columbia. It is also investing significant capital in production equipment to increase daily throughput. The investments include an automated conveyance and storage system at the KC Recycling facility in Trail, British Columbia.

After the closure of the smelter in Belledune, New Brunswick, KC Recycling will be able to handle eastern Canada’s CRT glass.

CRT glass recycling is critical because it recycles the lead content into new products and eliminates an environmental hazard that could arise from inadequate disposal of lead. KC Recycling has been a leader in this process for many years, processing most of the glass generated in western Canada and the Pacific Northwest.

Read the full press release here

The Ministry of the Environment, Conservation & Parks is holding a webinar to explain how stakeholders can take part in the development of a new regulation that will define how the producer-run Blue Box system will work.

In August 2019, the Minister directed Stewardship Ontario to develop a plan outlining how the existing municipally-run program will continue until producers take over full operation between 2023 and 2025.

The next stage in this transition process is the development of a regulation under the Resource Recovery and Circular Economy Act to end municipalities’ obligation to provide Blue Box services. The goal is to finalize the regulation early in 2021.

The webinar will be held November 27, 2019. If you are interested in participating, please register by November 22, 2019 with Marc Peverini, Senior Policy Analyst, Resource Recovery Policy Branch at Marc.Peverini@ontario.ca or 416-908-1528. Further webinar details will be provided for those who confirm their participation.

Walker Environmental announced yesterday that it is repurposing a section of its closed east landfill in Niagara Falls into a Resource Recovery Area after recently receiving approval to move forward with the project from the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change. 

The Resource Recovery Area will play a key role in Walker Environmental’s operations by diverting more materials from disposal while supporting Ontario’s transition to a low-carbon, circular economy.

“The Resource Recovery Area aligns with our landfill diversion goals and presents another opportunity for Walker Environmental to contribute to the circular economy,” said Mike Watt, Executive Vice President at Walker Environmental.

“It’s a great opportunity to continue to grow the resource recovery side of our business while providing safe and reliable infrastructure for materials that currently cannot be recycled or reused.”

In addition to recovering resources, Walker Environmental’s new facility will be used to create a number of new products, such as manufactured soils, recycled asphalt products, livestock-feed supplements and alternative low-carbon fuels, which will serve as a replacement fuel for coal in cement kilns and coke ovens.

Another key component of this new facility will be the development of several acres of pollinator habitat to support local agriculture. The OWMA and Walker Environmental recently provided a tour for the Toronto Star to see the company’s pollinator habitat areas at its Niagara Falls’ location while highlighting our association’s new guide on Enhancing Pollinator Habitats at Waste Management Sites. If you haven’t already, read the Star’s article: Niagara landfill transforms into farm for bees.

Yesterday, the provincial government added a draft regulation to its posting on the Environmental Registry to wind up industry funding organizations (IFOs), which include Stewardship Ontario, Ontario Electronic Stewardship and Ontario Tire Stewardship.

The regulation includes some general changes to ensure the Corporations Act applies to IFOs while laying out the role of the Resource Productivity and Recovery Authority (RPRA) during the wind-up process.

IFO board members can voluntarily choose to start winding up their operations and appoint a liquidator, who would be approved by the Authority. Or board members could vote to pass a resolution in support of applying for a court-supervised wind-up.

The regulation also includes an added safeguard to allow the Authority or an administrator appointed by the Minister of the Environment and Climate Change to submit an application to the court in cases where it is believed that:

• the IFO’s wind-up process is inconsistent with the plan that was approved by the Authority, or,
• the process does not comply with the Waste Diversion Transition Act or its regulations.

This safeguard will help to ensure the orderly and timely wind-up of IFOs and Ontario’s existing recycling programs, which aligns with the OWMA’s priorities and support for transitioning to producer-responsibility regulations under the Resource Recovery and Circular Economy Act.

If you have any questions or comments, please let us know by calling (905) 791-9500.

Yesterday, China notified the World Trade Organization that it plans to stop receiving shipments of several different types of waste later this year, including mixed-paper and plastics.

In response to China’s WTO filing on July 18, the Institute of Scrap Recycling Industries (ISRI) issued a stern statement, warning of the “devastating impact” a ban would have, including the “loss of tens of thousands of jobs” and the “closure of many recycling businesses throughout the United States.” At the same time, China is undertaking a major inspection campaign of plastics recyclers operating inside its borders, which has already led to shrinking end-markets for plastic waste.

The ISRI said in its statement that it has already alerted the Office of the United States Trade Representative and the U.S. Department of Commerce about its concerns related to a ban and has briefed American officials, who are meeting with Chinese representatives today as part of the U.S.-China Comprehensive Economic Dialogue.

The American media are reporting that today’s discussions between the U.S. and China got off to a tense start, and that both countries have cancelled their press conferences. 

China is a major player in the global recycling industry, accepting as much as 56% of all plastic waste imports, according to Reuters. A potential ban would create serious challenges in Canada and across the globe. At this point, it is unclear what the Government of Canada’s position is on this matter.

Ontario’s move to a more circular economy is “an entrepreneurial exercise” that requires continued collaboration and new partnerships, Environment and Climate Change Minister Glen Murray said in his speech at the Resource Productivity and Recovery Authority’s annual general meeting in Toronto on June 21.

Creating a circular economy will take “societal transformation,” he said, which starts with a cultural shift similar to what occurred during the founding of the province’s first recycling programs, such as the Blue Box.

“The success we had in getting here was because we all put aside our individual interests … and decided that we were going to build something together that government couldn’t build on its own,” he said.

To help develop partnerships between industry and government that can facilitate the transition to a more circular economy in Ontario, Murray encouraged attendees to connect with the Authority’s board members and set up meetings to discuss shared priorities.

“Walk away with a sense of mission and get to know one member of the board, and figure out how you can support them,” he said. “Start engaging with them as your representatives in this process.”

To view the Minister’s full speech, click here.

The OWMA supports Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) as an effective means to reduce waste; increase waste diversion; ensure the safe management of waste; and support the growth of resource markets. This policy paper outlines the OWMA’s position on EPR.

The provincial government is making some changes to Ontario’s used-tires regulation to help facilitate the wind-up of Ontario Tire Stewardship by the end of next year.

The Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change added EBR Posting #: 013-0094 to the Environmental Registry on June 5, 2017, to inform stakeholders that it will be making three key changes to Ontario Regulation 390/16 that specifically deal with managing revenues generated from steward fees. (You can review OTS’s steward fees by clicking here.)

Removing Steward Fee Setting Provisions

• The government is removing the steward fee setting provisions from the regulation so that OTS can develop “appropriate fee rules” to apply during the wind-up period, which include an approach to deal with program surpluses and deficits before the organization ceases operations on Dec. 31, 2018.

Continuing Steward Fees at Current Amounts

• The government intends to keep OTS’s steward fees frozen at the rates that were set on May 1, 2017, until the Authority approves the organization’s wind-up plan, along with any new fee rules.

Removing Annual Reconciliation Provisions

• Currently, the used-tires regulation ensures that any differences between the amount each steward pays in fees for their tires and the actual program costs for managing these tires are reconciled each year. The government is removing these provisions from the regulation to ensure the wind-up of OTS and the program are properly financed. 

The OWMA has reviewed the proposed regulatory amendments and does not have any immediate concerns. The changes appear to be nothing more than housekeeping ahead of the submission of OTS’s wind-up plan to the Resource Productivity and Recovery Authority, which is due by Oct. 31, 2017.

The OWMA has sent its recommendations for the new used-tires regulation to the Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change. To read our briefing note, click here.

If you have any questions, please contact us at our office by calling (905) 791-9500.

The OWMA supports the use of disposal levies if properly designed and implemented, as a means of changing behavior; reducing waste generation; promoting reuse; and increasing waste diversion in Ontario.

The association’s briefing note on the Key Components for the Used Tire Regulation, which was put together with the help of the OWMA’s Used Tires Caucus, provides the basis for the OWMA’s advocacy work on this policy file. The document advances several key priorities of the association as the Ministry continues to work toward winding up Ontario Tire Stewardship and developing a producer-responsibility for used tires in the province.

The OWMA supports the concept of disposal bans as a means of increasing diversion; preserving landfill capacity; reducing potential environmental impact; and supporting end markets. However, disposal bans should only be used when there is a well-developed material management infrastructure and end markets are in place to address the proper handling of the material being banned.