On August 21, 2019, the Ontario Government announced a recycling plan that will transition the financing and management of the Blue Box system from municipalities to companies that sell packaged goods or paper products. This transition will take place from 2023 to 2025, at which point producers will be fully responsible for providing Blue Box recycling services across the province.
CBA members, along with other Ontario companies, have made significant investments to support the province’s current Blue Box program. In fact, since the Blue Box program started in 2004, businesses have contributed roughly $1.5 billion. We acknowledge that we have an essential role to play in collecting and recycling the packaging we supply into the marketplace, and we support the government’s plan to transition Ontario’s Blue Box program into a modernized recycling system operated and funded by producers.
The CBA, AMO, and the province share the common goal of achieving high recycling rates, and creating and strengthening a closed loop system that reflects the circular economy. Ontarians want to do their part, and producers are invested in making sure it is easy for residents and governments to increase recycling and close the loop to keep packaging and paper out of landfills and our environment.
The CBA would like to extend a thank you to municipalities for the ongoing dialogue during the consultation process, and we look forward to improving recycling rates in Ontario with the help of stakeholders and producers.