I am deeply disappointed by…

I am deeply disappointed by the direction Ontario is taking with these proposed changes to the Blue Box Regulation. Rather than moving toward a more comprehensive and effective recycling system, this proposal retreats from key responsibilities—particularly the removal of requirements for producers to collect and recycle beverage containers away from home.

Beverage containers are consumed everywhere: in parks, offices, schools, and on the go. Limiting recovery to residential settings ignores a significant portion of where these containers are actually used and discarded. Removing the "away-from-home" obligation not only weakens the system’s environmental performance, it also sends the wrong signal to producers, municipalities, and the public about the importance of building circular, accountable systems.

Ontario already lags behind other provinces in beverage container recovery. Instead of fixing this gap—through the introduction of a deposit return system or by strengthening blue box obligations—the government is proposing to delay targets and cut back on recovery expectations. These changes will undermine confidence in the system, reduce diversion, and worsen the growing litter problem in our communities.

We need to move forward, not backward. I urge the government to reconsider these amendments and instead work toward a system that holds producers fully accountable for all the packaging they put into the market, no matter where it ends up.