The CPA has been pursuing the adoption of a more targeted cylinder recycling program over the past year as the Ontario government replaces the former Municipal Hazardous and Special Waste (MHSW) regulation and regime with a new regulatory structure premised on producer responsibility and contribution to the circular economy.
The ministry is proposing to exempt propane that is marketed in refillable pressurized propane containers from collection, management or promotion and education requirements in recognition of their long lifespan (refilled and reused for many years) and existing closed-loop collection system for these products.
The CPA will continue working to ensure the industry is exempted as they continue to seek input and feedback to better understand the current management and recovery of these products and implications if these products were to be exempt from regulatory requirements.
Most critical to propane stewards at this time is the ministry’s request for more information and data on the current management and recovery of refillable propane cylinders in order to exempt them from the proposed regulatory requirements.
The CPA is requesting members provide a brief description of their current operating practices in this regard for the association to present a solid business case to ministry representatives. Please forward this information to CPA Director of Government Relations, Ontario, Marcelline Riddell with marcellineriddell@propane.ca by March 19, 2021.
The ministry is holding consultation sessions in the coming weeks to seek stakeholder feedback and input on the proposed regulation. They are looking for input on: defining responsible persons, designated materials, management requirements, promotion and education, collection and consumer accessibility, and registration, reporting and auditing.
Riddell will participate in all upcoming consultations pertaining to this regulation and will respond to the proposed regulation, definitions, governance structure and implementation provisions by March 28, 2021. Members interested in participating in these sessions should contact Riddell directly.
More details:
On February 11, 2021, the Ministry of the Environment, Conservation and Parks posted the proposed Hazardous and Special Products (HSP) regulation under the
Resource Recovery and Circular Economy Act 2016, to transition the MHSW program to full producer responsibility, as per a key commitment of the Made-in-Ontario Environment Plan. The
draft regulation is available on the Environmental Registry of Ontario (ERO) for a
45-day public consultation period, ending March 28, 2021.
The proposed HSP regulation requires producers to:
- Establish a robust network of collection locations where consumers can drop off their HSP for free.
- Manage all collected materials properly, including meeting procedures for managing their end-of-life products by recycling where possible, or proper disposal.
- Provide promotion and education materials to increase consumer awareness.
- Register, report and keep records and meet other requirements to ensure there is an equitable compliance and enforcement framework.
The Resource Productivity and Recovery Authority would be responsible for overseeing the proposed scheme, including the compliance and enforcement activities related to the proposed regulation, collecting data through its online registry to oversee and assess performance, and posting registry procedures on its website to further clarify producer obligations.
Designated materials
The proposed regulation sets out four defined categories of hazardous and special products, including different responsibilities that producers must undertake:
| Product Categories |
Products |
Producer requirements |
| Category A |
- Oil filters
- non-refillable pressurized containers
|
- Consumer accessibility
- Promotion and education
- Management targets
- Properly recycle or dispose of any Category A products collected.
|
| Category B |
- Antifreeze (including factory-fill antifreeze)
- Empty oil containers
- Paints, pesticides & solvents
- Refillable pressurized containers
|
|
| Category C |
- Mercury-containing devices, including thermostats, thermometers and barometers
|
- Promotion and education
- Must properly recycle or dispose of Category C products, if collected by municipalities or other permanent depots or at HSP collection events.
|
| Category D |
|
- Promotion and education aimed at encouraging consumers to use up or share fertilizers.
|
*The ministry is proposing to exempt propane that is marketed in refillable pressurized propane containers from collection, management or promotion and education requirements in recognition of their long lifespan (refilled and reused for many years) and existing closed-loop collection system for these products.
The management targets listed in Category A set out a minimum amount of hazardous products that producers need to collect and recycle, calculated based on the weight of these products sold into the marketplace, multiplied by the management percentage stated in the proposed regulation.
Promotion and education programs should be designed to: raise consumer awareness about the producer’s efforts to collect, recycle or properly dispose of hazardous products and encourage public participation in those efforts.
Producers of Category A and B products must establish and operate a robust, convenient collection network, including both collection sites and events, for consumers to return their hazardous products at end of life, free of charge. The regulation would set consumer accessibility requirements based on municipal population size and/or number of retail locations to ensure there are collection locations throughout the province, including northern and rural areas as well as Indigenous communities, while also providing producers with flexibility on how they may establish their system.
The regulation proposes a ‘hierarchy of responsible producers’ based on resident status in Canada and Ontario as follows:
- Brand holder – resident in Canada
- First importer – resident in Ontario
- First marketer – resident in Ontario
- Marketer (if no resident in Ontario) – Based on the ERO posting, this would include out-of-province retailers that supply HSP to consumers through the internet.
Obligations can be passed up or down the hierarchy if there is a written agreement between a producer and a volunteer organization. While this provides producers with flexibility to meet obligations, the legal liability remains with the first producer under the hierarchy.
CPA members who currently sell non-refillable cylinders will have full control over how this obligation is fulfilled whether through an IPO (Independent Producer Organization) or other responsible entity.
