From: Recycling Council of BC [mailto:brock=rcbc.bc.ca@mail13.us1.rsgsv.net] On Behalf Of Recycling Council of BC Sent: Thursday, September 15, 201110:55 AM To: Babicz, Walter Subject: EPR for Post-Consumer Packaging and Printed Paper in B.C.

EPR for Post-Consumer Packaging and Printed Paper (PPP) in B.C. Email not displaying correclly? Vie\\ it in your browser.

RCBC

~ Letter from RCBC

Address

10-119 W. Pender SL

Vancouver, BC V6B 1S5

Canada

Contact

T: 604.683.6009

F: 604.683.7255

W: www.rcbc.bc.ca

E: rcbcri, rcbcbc.ca

EPR for Post-Consumer Packaging and

Printed Paper

September 15, 2011

Mayor Dan Rogers and Council

City of Prince George

(PPP) in B.C.

I am writing to you on behalf of the Recycling Council of British

Columbia to inform you of an important regulatory change that

will soon affect your community.

On May 19, 2011 the Government of B.C. added Schedule 5

to the B.C. Recycling Regulation. This makes industry

responsible for managing post-consumer packaging and

printed paper (PPP). This change will take place over a 36-

month period from the date Schedule 5 was enacted. By the

end of that time, industry must have a B.C. Ministry of

Environment (MoE) approved plan in place to provide and fund

an Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) program for PPP

throughout B.C.

This means that at the end of that transition period,

municipalities would no longer need to provide recycling and

waste services for those materials, thus removing the cost of

doing so from their budgets. This may prove to be a significant

cost-saving for some communities once the responsibility of

these materials moves to EPR, just like other products now

covered under the Recycling Regulation.

B.C. already has more than a dozen EPR programs that are

managed and funded by industry. These include:

• Beverage containers (soft drinks, beer, wine, spirits)

• Paint, pesticide and flammable liquids

• Used lubricating oil , oil filters, oil containers, anti-freeze

• Electronics (computers, TVs, printers, laptops, MP3

and music players .... )

• Small appliances

• Tires

• Medications

• Fluorescent tubes and compact bulbs

• Lead-acid batteries

• Rechargeable and single-use batteries (AA, AAA, C,

D, etc.)

• Cell phones

• Thermostats and smoke detectors

More products will be scheduled under the Recycling

Regulation in the coming years.

The PPP materials covered under Schedule 5 will mean a

significant expansion from what is currently collected in most

blue box programs. It will literally include all the packaging for

goods found on grocer and retail shelves, as well as,

newspapers, flyers, magazines, phone books, etc. Bound

books are the only exception. Fast food packaging such as

clamshells, cartons and disposable coffee cups are also

included.

The expansion of coverage not only includes materials

collected in municipally funded blue box recycling programs,

but from the municipal solid waste (MSW) stream as well. It

will be in the best interests of communities if the amount of

PPP currently found in MSW were diverted from landfills to the

EPR program(s) created under Schedule 5.

Industry has established an organization called Multi Materials

British Columbia (MMBC) to act as the stewardship agency

responsible to develop an EPR plan. The industry groups that

have formed MMBC are:

1 . The Retail Council of Canada

2. The Canadian Federation of Independent Grocers

3. The Canadian Newspaper Association

4. The Canadian Restaurant and Food Services

Association

5. The Food & Consumer Products of Canada

MMBC has not yet determined how this service will be

delivered, but one of many options would be for it to fund and

manage an expanded blue-box type of curbside system.

RCBC is taking steps to assist local governments and other

stakeholders in the transition from the current municipally

managed system to that of EPR managed by MMBC. Over the

coming months, RCBC will develop a report on the issues

facing local governments and other stakeholders such as

nonprofit and private recyclers.

In cooperation with MoE, RCBC will act as a hub of information

and assist in the public consultation process. Information about

meetings scheduled this fall to discuss PPP issues can be

accessed at the following link: http://rcbc.bc.ca/education/product­

stewardship/packagingepr. Meetings have already been set for

Prince George, (Oct. 11) Kelowna, (Oct. 12) and Burnaby (Oct.

13). Other meetings will follow. RCBC will regularly post

updates and issue alerts as more information and

opportun ities for public engagement becomes available.

Clearly it is in the best interest of any community considering

contracts or programs related to the management of these

materials to be as well informed of the process as early as

possible and to take into consideration the 36-month

timeframe for transition to industry responsibility.

If your municipality is not an RCBC member, we may not have

a staff contact within your organization to provide you with

information updates. If this is the case, and you would like to

ensure there is no disruption in communication during this

critical period, please contact Ben Ramos at ben(w,rcbc.bc.ca or

604 683-6009 ext. 314 to become a member or to find out

more.

Thank you for your time and attention to this important issue

concerning all British Columbians. If you have any questions

regarding the PPP initiative please feel free to contact me.

Sincerely,

Brock Macdonald

Executive Director

brock(alrcbc.bc.ca

604 683-6009 ext. 307

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reserved.

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Recycling Regulation

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Recycling Council of British Columbia

Suite 10 - 119 W. Pender Street

Vancouver, BC V6B 1 S5

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