waste free Ontario act update October 26, 2016 Dave Gordon, senior advisor, waste diversion

1. waste free Ontario act updateOctober 26, 2016Dave Gordon, senior advisor, waste diversion

2. waste free Ontario act • In November 2015, the Minister of the Environment and Climate Change introduced Bill 151 – a new legislative framework for waste management • The legislation is comprised of two proposed Acts: • Resource Recovery and Circular Economy Act • Waste Diversion Transition Act (WDTA) • Also contains Strategyfor a Waste Free Ontario: Building the Circular Economy to support Ontario in achieving its goals • Bill has received Royal Assent • Proclamation is expected later this year or early 2017

3. What does wfoa mean for us? • Producers will be directly responsible for their end-of-life management, including all related costs • Producers can discharge this responsibility by directly operating collection and recycling services for the used materials or by contracting with service providers, potentially including municipalities • Following Proclamation, the Waste Diversion Transition Act (WDTA) provides an interim step to ensure the smooth transition of existing Blue Box, WEEE, MHSW, and Used Tires programs to the new WFOA framework so that there will be no disruptions to the recycling services currently being provided or financed by Producers

4. The WFOA is explicitly intended to wind-up existing Producer controlled monopoly compliance schemes and to promote the development of a wider variety of competing approaches to achieving new recycling targets • While the new framework does not define a specific role for Municipalities, the WDTA provides the Minister with explicit powers to determine how potential payments to service providers (including municipalities) should be made, signaling the importance of the role of municipalities; this was further highlighted in recent mandate letter from Premier to Minister Murray • Key decisions on the timing of the transition of existing waste diversion programs, minimum recycling service requirements, new recycling targets, etc. will be made by the Province following the formation of the new Resource Productivity and Recovery Authority (RPRA) and after extensive consultation with stakeholders

5. Municipalities must be active and effective participants throughout this process to advance municipal interests and to ensure fair and effective outcomes • It is clear, however, that individual municipalities must make the key decision on whether to continue to directly provide recycling services for designated materials with full cost recovery from Producers or to transfer this responsibility entirely to Producers • We have outlined some of the key issues that municipalities and the Province must take into consideration to ensure the effectiveness and fairness of this new legal framework

6. Strategic objectives for municipalities • Ensure elected officials and staff have sound understanding of WFOA and implications of transition • Ensure residents/taxpayers continue to receive high quality waste reduction and diversion services • Promote increased levels of waste reduction and diversion and highlight the key role municipalities play in delivering Integrated Waste Management system • Ensure that whether municipalities choose to continue to provide recycling services for designated materials directly or to transfer these responsibilities to Producers, that Producers pay 100% of the costs of the services provided

7. Principles for regulations • Existing recycling service levels and geographic coverage must be maintained and further enhanced to achieve higher waste reduction and diversion targets in the new legislative regime. • Producers should be required to provide province-wide recycling services for their designated materials • Provincial recycling targets should be material specific rather than set as a broad “basket of goods” for designated materials

8. Principles (cont’d) • Separate recycling targets should be set for designated materials managed as municipal wastes and those primarily managed as Commercial & Industrial waste. • Mechanisms must be put in place to ensure that Producers have viable opportunities to establish multiple approaches for meeting targets and to ensure full and fair competition among these approaches • Municipalities that continue to provide recycling services for the management of designated wastes must be fully compensated by Producers for these services.

9. PRINCIPLES (CONT’D) • Where municipalities choose to transfer full operational responsibility for these programs to Producers or their designated recovery agents, this must include the transfer of existing program infrastructure or fair compensation for any stranded program assets. • A firm deadline should be set for the transition of all existing WDO programs to the WFOA framework. • The Producer’s share of operating the existing Blue Box Program should be increased incrementally during this transition period. • Processes and target dates should be identified for designating additional materials for Producer responsibility regulations.

10. Next steps • AMO with its partners City of Toronto, RPWCO and MWA will continue to provide support to our members including: • Researching relevant experience in other jurisdictions with similar legislation, including identifying key lessons learned by municipalities and the requirements for effective regulation to support the public policy goals of broad enabling legislation similar to the WFOA • Identifying opportunities for municipalities to provide services to Producers, operating individually or collectively • Educating our members on these key issues and soliciting their ongoing input • Refining and providing further rationale for the positions and principles we have outlined • Representing municipalities in discussions with the Province and in formal consultation processes. • Keeping members updated on further developments throughout this process

11. Updates • 2017 Steward Obligation • Short Form Datacall • WDO Datacall Audit process • Tires and Electronics • Compostable/Recyclable Coffee Pods

12. Contact: Dave Gordon 416-389-4160 Or via e-mail at dgordon@amo.on.ca