MMBC: What are the Issues?

In 2004, the Province enacted the Recycling Regulation under the Environmental Management Act to implement a framework for extended producer responsibility programs in respect of particular products. The purpose of the Regulation is to shift responsibility upstream in the product life cycle, onto the producer and away from local governments and general taxpayers.

In May 2011, the Province amended the Recycling Regulation to include a new product category: packaging and printed paper (PPP). Packaging is defined in the Environmental Management Act as “a material, substance or object that is (a) used to protect, contain or transport a commodity or product, or (b) attached to a commodity or product or its container for the purpose of marketing or communicating information about the commodity or product”. Packaging can include anything from corrugated paper containers, to aluminum cans, to plastic bottles. Printed paper is defined in the Recycling Regulation as “paper that is not packaging, but is printed with text or graphics as a medium for communicating information, and includes telephone directories, but does not include (a) other types of bound reference books, (b) bound literary books, or (c) bound text books”.

Download pdf: MMBC: What are the Issues?