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What the Jurisdictions are Doing
British Columbia
In July 2004, British Columbia (BC) enacted the Environmental Management Act and then, in
October 2004, the Recycling Regulation. The regulation assigns responsibility for end-of-life
management to producers or their agents, requires that industry submit a plan for ministry
approval or follow a more prescriptive option by a fixed date and requires an annual report and a
stewardship plan review every five years. Should a producer fail to submit an acceptable plan, the
producer may not sell the designated products in the province.
BC has made a clear commitment to the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment’s
(CCME) Canada-wide Action Plan (CAP) for EPR, having designated more than two-thirds of
the product categories including beverage containers, various types of special and hazardous
waste, electronic and electrical products, tires and packaging and printed paper. All programs
are required to achieve a 75% recovery rate or another recovery rate established by the director
of the Ministry of the Environment. However, while producers establish the timeline to achieve
the target in the stewardship plan, they are not subject to penalties for failing to reach it in the
specified time.
Starting with the annual reports producers (or organizations representing producers)
submitted for 2010, BC requires third party audits of program performance including: the location
of collection facilities and any changes since the previous report; a description of how the product
was managed in accordance with the pollution prevention hierarchy; the total amount of the
producer’s product sold and collected; and, if applicable, the producer’s recovery rate. Where
programs recover costs through deposits or fees charged by the producer to the consumer that are
shown on the consumer sales receipt, BC also requires independently audited financial statements.
In May 2011, BC designated packaging and printed paper which obligated producers to submit
a program plan to the director by November 19, 2012 and then, subject to the director’s approval,
to implement the program by May 19, 2014.
Alberta
Alberta supports EPR when assessed as “the most appropriate tool to achieve desired
outcomes”. Regulated programs are currently in place for beverage containers, tires,
electronics, paint and used oil materials, using approaches that include both stewardship and
EPR. With the exception of beverage containers, maximum fees that can be charged at the
consumer level are specified under the regulation. Voluntary industry-run programs also exist
for pesticide containers, rechargeable batteries and pharmaceuticals. Additional programs
established under a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) are in place for plastic bags and
cell phones.
Alberta’s Too Good to Waste Strategy includes a commitment to developing a stewardship
program for packaging and printed materials but does not indicate any intention to use an
EPR approach. The electronics program is currently under review for potential expansion but
there is no clear commitment on developing EPR programs for the remaining CCME Phase 1
and 2 materials.
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