Proposed Amendment Remove…

Proposed Amendment

Remove Planned Expansion for Multi-Residential Buildings, Schools, and Specified Long-Term Care Homes and Retirement Homes – Remove planned expansion to more multi-residential buildings, specified long-term care and retirement homes and schools to reduce future costs.

Comment

The City of Temiskaming Shores is a municipality in Northeastern Ontario with a population of 9634 (2021 Statistics Canada Census).

In 2015, the City implemented an enhanced curbside waste collection program to promote and support blue box diversion efforts. This program is a great success and was a major contributor to extending the life of the, then operating, landfill by nearly 7 years. In 2023, the City opened a new landfill at a cost of over $4 million. The life expectancy of this landfill is estimated at 25 years.

The City’s Solid Waste Management By-law associated with the implementation of the enhanced curbside waste collection program, allows for curbside waste collection services (refuse and blue box) for residential buildings including multi-residential buildings containing up to 8 dwelling units. For multi-residential buildings containing more than 8 units, waste services are the responsibility of the owner unless approved by the City. To further support and promote blue box diversion efforts, the City allowed 7 multi-residential buildings containing more than 8 units to be partially part of the blue box program. These buildings were required to cover their waste collection costs with the City covering the costs of blue box transportation to the Material Recovery Facility (MRF) and processing.

The City transitioned to Extended Producer Responsibility on January 1, 2025. City staff were informed by Circular Material Ontario (CMO) that the above-mentioned 7 multi-residential buildings blue box material would be considered a non-eligible source as they did not receive collection services under the Waste Diversion Transition Act. This decision has substantially increased costs for the owners as processing costs are set by CMO at $200/tonne. In addition, with the smaller MRF’s closing doors there are no other options for processing material. CMO did however inform staff that the owners of these facilities can register with the Resource Productivity and Recovery Authority (RPRA) for collection services from producers and the resulting collected blue box material will be managed by producers in 2026.

The proposed removal of the planned expansion to more multi-residential buildings, specified long-term care and retirement homes and schools, will increase costs for the owners of these facilities. The reduction of any cost will only be seen by the Producers who ultimately should be responsible for the blue box material they produce.

With the proposed removal, blue box waste diversion efforts are moving backward, not forward at a time when landfill capacities across Ontario are at a critical point.

I strongly encourage the Provincial Government to have the planned expansion to more multi-residential buildings, specified long-term care and retirement homes and schools, remain within the current Blue Box Regulation. This will assist all municipalities with growing their waste diversion efforts and increasing life expectancies of landfills.

In addition, by not removing the planned expansion to more multi-residential buildings, specified long-term care and retirement homes and schools from the Blue Box Regulation, support will be given to the Ontario Government’s important vision of Supporting the Growth and Standardization of Affordable and Rental Housing as outlined in the More Homes Built Faster Act. The creation of affordable rental housing will be substantially easier without the additional blue box expenses added.

Proposed Amendment

Clarify the definition of a facility – Specify that a multi-residential building is an establishment with six or more residential units to be consistent with definitions in other regulations (e.g., O. Reg. 103/94).

Comment

Although consistency is important, clarifying that a multi-residential building is an establishment with six or more residential units to be consistent with definitions in other regulations (e.g., O. Reg. 103/94) should not be relevant to the Blue Box Regulation. Every family in Ontario should be part of the Extended Producer Responsibility Program regardless of whether they live in a single-family dwelling or any size of multi-residential building. Every family is a consumer of the Producers product.