EPR is a cornerstone to effective recycling

John Coyne of the Canadian Stewardship Services Alliance (CSSA), Nov. 27, 2018 in the The Chronicle Herald (Canada):

Extended producer responsibility (EPR) "has become an established part of environmental policy in a number of Canadian provinces, making producers responsible for the life cycle of their products, relieving the financial burden on municipalities for waste management and reducing the amount of material destined for the waste stream. Under EPR, obligated businesses become stewards who register with a program, report their quantities of designated materials and pay fees to cover recycling system collection and processing costs.

CSSA helps businesses across Canada meet their provincial recycling obligations... Notably, each of these programs provides exemptions to smaller businesses based on annual revenue and the tonnes of material supplied to consumers in the province.

In addition to providing administrative harmonization across various programs, CSSA creates tools that simplify reporting for small businesses, such as calculators that help determine the amount of materials supplied. CSSA strongly believes that EPR is an essential cornerstone to effective recycling and it provides a strong catalyst for business efficiency and opportunity. EPR can also create a more relevant incentive to design products and packaging that have less impact on the environment.

We believe that making businesses operationally responsible avoids a simple “offloading” of municipal costs by offering a different approach and better outcomes."