Making Producers Pay - From Product Stewardship To Innovative EPR Programs

Product and packaging waste is increasingly drawing public attention across the globe. This stems, in part, from a growing awareness of massive plastic pollution accumulation zones in our oceans, government bans of single use plastics, China's recent import ban on scrap plastics, and news of the Philippines wanting to return Canadian "recyclables." In this era, governments are increasingly turning to innovative waste management and diversion policies and laws.

To date, Canada has focused on two approaches for managing products and their packaging at end-of-life: (1) extended producer responsibility or "EPR", and (2) product stewardship programs. For the most part, these programs (which cover various categories) fall under provincial jurisdiction.