Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) is exactly what it sounds like. Currently, producers sell products. When those products reach their end of life, they become waste—waste that has previously been managed by municipalities. EPR extends the responsibility of end-of-life products back to producers, saving the municipalities money.
Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) shifts the physical and financial burden of collecting, sorting, processing and recycling waste to the producer and away from local governments and taxpayers. The costs for the recycling system will now be accounted for in the cost of a product—not in property taxes or utility rates.
While EPR is not a new concept for producers or suppliers, it is a new concept for Albertans. EPR presents several positive opportunities for municipalities in Alberta:
Reduced costs for municipalities: The industries that create certain materials will now be responsible for the collection and management of those materials at the end of their product life.
Increased recycling of products: Since producers are responsible for recycling the products they create—they have an incentive to ensure fewer products end up in our landfills or are disposed in other ways.
Steps towards an Albertan circular economy: Products that previously ended up in the waste stream are redirected and recycled into new products to be used again and again. This means more job creation, more economic investment, and larger economies. Alberta's new EPR framework will diversify our economy by encouraging companies to find innovative ways to recycle more materials and produce less packaging waste.
Once fully implemented in April 2025, the EPR framework will embrace Alberta’s polluter-pay principle and Alberta’s long tradition of supporting innovation. Collection service (curbside or depot) is anticipated to remain similar to the local services Albertans are used to.
Alberta will have 2 EPR systems:
Single-use Products, Packaging and Paper Products (PPP)
EPR will include residential products only. Materials from the industrial, commercial and institutional sector are excluded. Examples of single-use products include straws, utensils, plates, bowls, cups, and party supplies. Packaging includes items like food containers, foil, and wraps. Examples of paper products are flyers, brochures, booklets, catalogues, newspapers, and magazines.
Hazardous and Special Products (HSP)
Hazardous and special products include batteries, corrosive products, corrosive product containers, flammable products, flammable product containers, pesticides, pesticide containers, toxic products, and toxic product containers, limited to consumer sizes typically found in retail stores.
Alberta’s Extended Producer Responsibility Regulation came into force on November 30, 2022. Government recognizes it will take time for producers to develop their EPR systems including considerations for collection and material management.
Producers will be required to provide verification of collection and management plans to the ARMA by April 1, 2024. EPR systems for PPP and HSP will be operational by April 1, 2025.
October 3, 2022
November 30, 2022
Spring 2023
Fall 2023
April 1, 2024
April 1, 2025
Learn more about Extended Producer Responsibility here