Should Producers Pay for Recycling Single-Use Plastics and Packaging?
Official title: Extended Producer Responsibility engagement
Why This Matters
Ever wonder why your recycling fees keep going up? This consultation tackled who should pay—you or the companies making all that packaging. The result affects what you pay in taxes and whether more stuff actually gets recycled instead of landfilled.
What Could Change
The Extended Producer Responsibility Regulation was approved on October 3, 2022 and came into force November 30, 2022. Companies that produce single-use plastics, packaging, and hazardous products now bear recycling costs. Alberta expects this to cut greenhouse gas emissions by about 72,000 tonnes.
Key Issues
- How should Extended Producer Responsibility be designed for single-use products and packaging?
- How should hazardous and special products like household hazardous waste be handled?
- How can this approach support a circular plastics economy while creating jobs?
How to Participate
- This consultation is now closed. Review the What We Heard report to see how public feedback shaped the final regulation.
- Learn about the Regulated Extended Producer Responsibility Systems now in effect.
What Happened
Feedback was collected through online surveys and stakeholder discussions in two phases. Phase 1 ran from March 17 to May 17, 2021, and Phase 2 from November 15, 2021 to January 21, 2022. The input helped develop the Extended Producer Responsibility Framework, which was approved as regulation on October 3, 2022 and came into force on November 30, 2022.