This proposed change is…

This proposed change is laughably bad. It benefits no one but producers of wasteful products and the waste industry, while putting ordinary people on the hook for wasteful industry practices. If the concern is preventing costs from being passed on to consumers, the logical solution is regulation of producers to prevent that from occurring, not dramatically weakening extended producer responsibility. This system is meant to force industry change by making them responsible for the waste they profit off creating. Weakening it threatens a decade of progress towards circular economy, increases costs to taxpayers and municipalities to manage increased waste, and is a ridiculously illogical use of resources, energy, and time.

No aspect of this proposal makes sense, from the delayed targets, weakening of responsibility to residential waste (as if waste no longer counts if you aren't at home, or as if businesses and industry don't generate massive amounts of waste?), to allowing incineration of plastic waste to count as 'recycling'. Incineration isn't recycling, it's downcycling, with many associated environmental issues. If anything, circular economy regulations in Ontario must be strengthened to shift more responsibility from municipalities onto producers, not less.