Alberta releases four-year plan to shift cost of recycling to producers

Alberta has started the regulatory process that will shift the cost of recycling away from municipalities and onto the companies that produce the items. 

The new extended producer responsibility regulation, which lays out timelines and targets for the program, will come into effect on Nov. 30 and will be fully operational by October 2026, according to a plan released by Alberta's UCP government earlier this month. 

"Alberta has been a little bit late to the table on this but we're really, really thrilled that now we actually have a framework for EPR," said Christina Seidel, executive director of the Recycling Council of Alberta. 

The regulation covers product packaging, single-use products, paper products, batteries, pesticides, most corrosive and flammable household products and their containers. 

'Going to be easier'

For several decades, Alberta municipalities choosing to launch recycling programs have had to bear the cost through taxpayer revenues. As a result, recycling isn't equally available to all Albertans.

EPR programs shift the costs of recycling packaging and products to the manufacturer, importer or retailer. A group of producers can also form non-profit producer responsibility organizations to manage the recycling.

Exemptions will be offered to charities and smaller businesses where gross revenue falls below a still-to-be-determined threshold. 

The system is expected to standardize what is recycled throughout Alberta and extend collection to municipalities that don't already have it. 

"We're trying to make it easy for Alberta to recycle. I think that's the bottom line," said Cathy Heron, president of Alberta Municipalities and mayor of St. Albert.  "It's going to be easier, it'll be much more understandable."

The system will take several years to implement.

The Alberta Recycling Management Authority (ARMA) will manage the system and ensure producers reach required benchmarks. ARMA will enact bylaws to charge fees, register producers, collect data, audit reports and levy penalties for non-compliance. 

Producers must file their collection and recycling plans with ARMA by April 1, 2024. 

Homes that already get curbside pickup or have access to common collection sites set up by their municipalities will switch over to producer collection by April 1, 2025. Homes that don't have access to recycling services can get it by Oct. 1, 2026, at no extra charge. 

Growing targets 

The regulation sets out annual targets for what must be recycled from Oct. 31, 2027, to Oct. 31, 2033. 

For example, 80 per cent of the paper products listed in the regulation that are used in Alberta homes must be recycled by 2027. The goal is 95 per cent by 2033.

The requirement for rigid plastics is 50 per cent in 2027 with a target of 65 per cent by 2033. 

"The fact that these numbers go up by each year really drives industry then to do better and that that approach is very, very positive," Seidel said. 

Although industry will bear the costs of EPR, the Retail Council of Canada supports the new regulations. 

Michael Zabaneh, vice president for sustainability, said the regulation is fair and uses best practices from other jurisdictions. He said the purpose of EPR isn't just about getting producers to cover costs. 

"Extended producer responsibility is intended to incent changes in packaging and incent producers to drive more diversion and incent improvements in product design so that things have a more circular loop," he said. 

Newspaper publishers unhappy

Not every group is thrilled with the new regulation.

News Media Canada, which advocates on behalf of Canadian newspaper publishers, is calling on Alberta to exempt newspapers from the EPR regulation as Ontario did earlier this year.

Fees that would be faced by newspaper publishers could be hundreds of thousands of dollars — a "kick in the teeth" for an industry that is already struggling, said Paul Deegan, president and CEO of News Media Canada.

New Media Canada supports initiatives to force manufacturers to reduce wasteful packaging but Deegan said newspapers shouldn't be included. 

"Newspapers are not packaging," Deegan said. "We are the product and therefore we should be exempt."

Deegan plans to reach out to Alberta Premier Danielle Smith and whoever the environment minister is after the cabinet announcement later this week.