4. Ontario 2022 On September 7, 2022, the Resource Productivity & Recovery Authority (the "RPRA") issued a notice stating that Call2Recycle had been unable to demonstrate a compliant collection system for batteries in Ontario as required under Part III of the Batteries Regulation. Accordingly, battery producers relying on Call2Recycle as their producer responsibility organization were out of compliance with the Batteries Regulation, and were required to provide the RPRA with a corrective action plan outlining the process to establish a compliant collection system. The corrective action plan was required to bring the battery collection system into compliance by September 30, 2022. On October 18, 2022, RPRA released its 2023 Business Plan, which details the RPRA's strategic priorities, objectives and performance measures, the key activities planned, and the human and financial resources it will need to deliver on its mandate during the 2023-2025 planning period. The activities described in the plan are derived from the RPRA's statutory mandate and the directions received to date from Ontario's Minister of the Environment, Conservation and Parks. This is the RPRA's seventh business plan since it was established in November 2016. On October 27, 2022, the RPRA issued a notice to all battery producers with management requirements advising that they were out of compliance with section 14 (Management of batteries) of the Batteries Regulation, which, among other things, requires producers to use processors registered with the RPRA to meet their resource recovery requirements. Unless a processor is subject to the small processor registration exemption, producers (or producer responsibility organizations on their behalf) can only rely on the following battery processors registered with RPRA to meet their 2020, 2021 and 2022 management requirements: 1. Battery Solutions LLC; 2. Laurentide Re-Sources Inc – as of October 26, 2022; 3. Li-Cycle Corp; 4. Raw Materials Company Inc.; and 5. Retriev Technologies Ltd. To ensure compliance, producers were required to submit information regarding their current used batteries management system and used batteries tonnage to the RPRA on several dates in November 2022. On December 9, 2022, the Batteries Regulation was amended to clarify the roles of volunteer organizations and producer responsibility organizations, and to clarify the public education requirements regarding resource recovery charges. For example, every battery producer and person who markets batteries must provide information to the public on "how the charge will be used to collect, reduce, reuse, recycle and recover batteries." The amended Regulation also clarifies that producer responsibility organizations have shared liability with producers for certain aspects of the regulation, such as establishing the collection network and ensuring batteries collected are managed properly. The majority of these amendments came into force on December 9, 2022, while others, including the requirements surrounding resource recovery charges, came into force on January 1, 2023. On December 9, 2022, the Electrical and Electronic Equipment Regulation was amended to clarify the roles of volunteer organizations and producer responsibility organizations, and to clarify the public education requirements regarding resource recovery charges. For example, every electrical and electrical equipment ("EEE") producer and person who markets EEE must provide information to the public on "how the charge will be used to collect, reduce, reuse, recycle and recover EEE." The amendments also update the "producer agreement" provisions to clarify that producer responsibility organizations have shared liability with producers for certain aspects of the regulation, such as establishing the collection network and ensuring EEE collected is managed properly. The majority of these amendments came into force on December 9, 2022, while others, including the requirements surrounding resource recovery charges, came into force on January 1, 2023. On December 9, 2022, the Tires Regulation was amended. Key changes to the Regulation include removal of the audit requirement and replacement with an internal verification process, removal of reporting and audit requirements for visible fees, reduction of management audits from annually to once every three years, amendment of the small producer exemption to require just record keeping instead of registration and reporting, update of the producer hierarchy to replace Ontario brand holders with Canadian brand holders (thereby reducing the number of obligated parties), and clarification that producer responsibility organizations have shared liability with producers for certain aspects of the Regulation, such as establishing the collection network and ensuring tires collected are managed properly. The majority of these amendments came into force on December 9, 2022, while others came into force on January 1, 2023.
2023 On November 15, 2022, the RPRA's Hazardous Waste Program Registry opened for generators, carriers, and receivers of industrial hazardous or liquid waste to set up accounts in preparation for meeting reporting requirements that recently came into effect. Beginning January 1, 2023, obligated parties are required to report on waste management activities, including manifesting, through the online Registry. The new Registry allows a generator to delegate reporting and fee payment and provides the option for bulk data transfers in order to support high volume manifesting. The Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks has updated the Registration Guidance Manual for Generators of Liquid Industrial and Hazardous Waste to align with these regulatory changes. On January 1, 2023, Ontario's new Administrative Penalties Regulation came into effect. The new Regulation gives the RPRA the power to issue monetary penalties to obligated parties non-compliant with the Resource Recovery and Circular Economy Act and its associated regulations. This Regulation is intended to support and strengthen the RPRA's enforcement tools to help ensure that producers, manufacturers, and importers of tires, batteries, EEE, blue box materials, and hazardous and special products comply with the requirements for the collection and end-of-life management of the materials they supply in Ontario. Under the Regulation, all administrative penalties issued will be posted to the RPRA's public website, and the RPRA will report annually to the Minister and the public on the use of revenue from the administrative penalties. The RPRA has stated that it will publicly consult in 2023 on how administrative penalties collected by the RPRA will be used. As of January 1, 2023, lighting producers in Ontario are individually accountable and financially responsible for collecting and reusing, refurbishing, or recycling their products when consumers discard them, pursuant to the Electrical and Electronic Equipment Regulation. Lighting producers are now required to establish and operate a collection system for lighting, and establish and operate a system for managing used lighting. Lighting producers must also register with RPRA through the digital Registry, pay RPRA's annual program fees, and submit lighting supply data and information about their collection network. Starting July 1, 2023, Ontario will begin transferring responsibility for providing blue box services from municipalities, local services boards, and First Nations to producers of blue box materials. This transition will continue between July 1, 2023 and December 31, 2025. As of July 1, 2023, blue box producers will become fully accountable and financially responsible for collecting and recycling their blue box materials when consumers discard them. The new blue box program will be overseen by the RPRA. Stewardship Ontario will continue to oversee the current blue box program until the end of the transition period, after which it will be wound up as an organization. Obligated companies should be aware that during the transition period, they will temporarily have obligations to both Stewardship Ontario and the RPRA.
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