1. Plastics Sustainability within a Circular Economy
Canadian Plastic Industry Association
December 7, 2017

2. Presentation Outline Circular Economy Policy Framework
Resource Productivity and Recovery Authority
Amended Blue Box Program
Minister’s direction
Consultation process
Next steps
Key Issues for Plastics Industry

3. Circular Economy Policy Framework
Strategy for a Waste-Free Ontario – Building the Circular Economy
Released on March 1, 2016
Four objectives:
Enhance provincial direction and oversight
Enable efficient and effective recovery systems
Increase waste reduction and improve resource productivity
Create conditions for sustainable end-markets

4. Circular Economy: Objectives
Individual producer responsibility: each producer is individually responsible including for its own performance against objectives
All participants strive to:
Minimize use of raw materials
Maximize useful life of materials through resource recovery
Minimize waste generated at the end-of-life of products and packaging

5. Legislative Framework
Resource Recovery and Circular Economy Act, 2016
New regime where producers are accountable for their products and packaging, recovering resources and reducing waste
Waste Diversion Transition Act, 2016
Continues existing diversion programs until wind-up as directed by the Minister
Provides for winding up the existing programs and IFOs

6. Resource Productivity and Recovery Authority
Established November 30, 2016 as the authority responsible for:
Overseeing existing programs until wound up
Approving wind up plans developed by IFOs as directed by Minister
Overseeing implementation of the approved wind up plans
Developing and operating a Registry
To accommodate registration and reporting by obligated parties
To support monitoring compliance
To support assessing progress towards a circular economy
Compliance and enforcement

7. Resource Productivity and Recovery Authority
Mission: To promote and enforce accountability for the reduction and management of packaging and products
Vision: A waste-free Ontario where all resources are reused and recycled
Corporate structure: non-crown, not-for-profit corporation
Governance: independent, skills-based, non-stakeholder board
Accountable: to the Minister of the Environment and Climate Change
Self-financing: through fees levied on parties obligated to register and cost recovery from industry funding organizations and industry stewardship organizations

8. Amending the Blue Box Program
August 14, 2017: Minister directed Authority and Stewardship Ontario to develop a proposed amended Blue Box Program Plan
Stewards would assume full responsibility, via Stewardship Ontario, for collection and management of paper products and packaging (PPP)
Would replace current arrangement where municipalities are responsible with stewards sharing costs 50:50
Stewardship Ontario and Authority to work collaboratively with stewards, municipalities and other affected stakeholders
Authority is responsible to review the proposed amended BBPP for compliance with the WDTA and consistency with the Minister’s direction and, if approved, submit the plan to the Minister by February 15, 2018

9. Minister’s Direction for Amended BBPP
Seamless transition for residents
Support reduction, reuse, recycling and re-integration of PPP
Continuous improvement of environmental outcomes
Effective economic methods to incent behaviour changes (including waste reduction)
Drive innovation through collaboration and competition
Avoid stranded assets to extent possible
Enable transitioned municipalities to choose whether to
Act on behalf of Stewardship Ontario to procure and administer contracted collection services or have Stewardship Ontario procure and administer
Participate in Stewardship Ontario’s procurement process for post-collection services
Address in-kind contribution from newspaper industry at no cost to municipalities

10. Consultation Process Consultation is focused on:
Stewards
Local governments
First Nations communities
Waste management industry
ENGOs
Other stakeholder organizations
Collaborative approach using consultation sessions and meetings
Seeking stakeholder input throughout process to test concepts, options, approaches while developing the amended BBPP

11. Summary of Activities to Date
August 14, 2017 – Minister’s letter to Authority and Stewardship Ontario
September 2017 – Authority and Stewardship Ontario develop a Stakeholder and Indigenous Peoples Engagement and Communications Plan
October/November 2017 – Consultations
Stewardship Ontario presents on aspects of amended BBPP proposal
Authority monitors the consultation process and engages with Stewardship Ontario on proposal issues via weekly meetings

12. Next Steps
December 14 and 15 – RPRA and Stewardship Ontario Boards consider draft amended BBPP for purposes of consultation
December 22, 2017 – Stewardship Ontario posts a draft amended BBPP proposal for next phase of consultation process
January 2018 – Consultation meetings at which Stewardship Ontario will present draft amended BBPP proposal; comments submitted will inform preparation of final amended BBPP proposal for submission to RPRA
February 8, 2018 – RPRA Board considers the amended BBPP proposal; if approved, submits it to the Minister for consideration prior to February 15

13. Implications of Amended BBPP for Plastics
Minister directed that the proposal for an amended BBPP incorporate:
Methods to facilitate the reduction of waste generated such as
Increasing reusability and recyclability
Reducing or eliminating any impact a material may have on the recyclability of other materials
Reducing the amount of waste generated at the end of a packaging’s life
Reducing or eliminating the use of any substance that compromises the material's reusability or recyclability
Increasing use of recovered resources in the making of the material
Means to discourage use of materials that are difficult to recycle and have low recovery rates
Mechanisms to identify and address issues associated with problematic materials

14. Solutions Required for Key Plastics Issues
Challenges with export markets putting pressure on North American capacity and quality requirements for recovered plastics
Effect of commingled collection on quality of PE film and PS foam
Shift from recyclable single resins to non-recyclable laminates
Negatively affecting diversion performance of plastic packaging
Increasing pressure to resolve technical barriers to laminate recycling
Creating demand by incorporating recycled content in packaging
Better systems to collect and utilize plastics to avoid environmental impact
Public perception that plastic is an environmental problem fueled by coverage of plastics in oceans and garbage gyres

15. A request to industry:
Plastics present a unique set of challenges and opportunities for transition to a circular economy
Industry expertise will be critical to designing and implementing effective policy reform
RPRA is looking to learn from and collaborate with experts and stakeholders in supporting delivery on the Strategy for a Waste Free Ontario

16. Contact RPRA Frank Denton, CEO Geoff Rathbone, Director of Transition
Geoff Rathbone, Director of Transition
Wilson Lee, Director of Communications and Stakeholder Relations
Mary Cummins, Program Lead
GR to note that we want to meet with stakeholders, on this or any subject. We are open, transparent and willing to learn from our stakeholders.