Updates to the Blue Box Transition Schedule

Ontario is working to create a stronger and more effective Blue Box service and has started the process of transitioning to a producer responsibility model. The new approach improves the Blue Box system by providing consistent service that will reduce litter and allow more materials to be recycled in more communities.

To support a seamless transition of Blue Box collection services to the new Blue Box system, we are making updates to the Transition Schedule to include:

• 28 First Nation communities
• 11 small municipalities that had been left off the previous schedule

These administrative changes will ensure there is no disruption of blue box services in these communities and will not impact previously identified transition dates.

Background: Ontario’s Blue Box Regulation

On June 3, 2021, we released a new producer responsibility regulation that makes recycling easier for Ontarians by standardizing what goes in the Blue Box and expanding services to more communities across the province, including First Nation communities outside the Far North.

The new full producer responsibility model will improve recycling across the province by creating a more consistent and reliable Blue Box collection service with some of the highest diversion rate targets in North America.

The first group of Blue Box programs will transfer responsibility to producers starting July 1, 2023. By January 1, 2026, producers will be fully responsible for providing services provincewide.

Blue Box Transition Schedule

The Blue Box Regulation references a Transition Schedule that identifies the date on which each eligible community that currently has a Blue Box program will transition to producer-run services.

The first version of the schedule included municipalities and local services boards. When this version was released on June 3, 2021, the ministry committed to updating the schedule by adding transition dates for First Nation communities.

Updates to the Blue Box Transition Schedule – First Nation reserves

The ministry has been coordinating and engaging with First Nation communities that currently have Blue Box services since July 2021 to identify the appropriate transition date to be identified on the Blue Box Transition Schedule.

Based on input received through this engagement process the Transition Schedule has been updated to add the following First Nations, listed by community name and reserve name, and transition date:

The 28 First Nation communities that have been added only reflect those communities with Blue Box programs that have provided the ministry with a request to be included on the schedule.

Producer Responsibility Organizations (PROs), who will be providing services on behalf of producers, are required to ensure that an offer of service is made to a First Nation community at least six months before the applicable transition date identified on the Transition Schedule.

This offer will provide details about how the collection services will be provided to the First Nation. Before a PRO can begin to provide the service, the First Nation must accept the offer and inform the Resource Productivity and Recovery Authority (RPRA) in accordance with the Blue Box Regulation.

The reserve names listed are the names as set out on the Government of Canada’s “First Nation Profiles” website. That website includes the geographic location of each reserve. Where the ministry is aware of an alternate reserve name, that name has also been included in brackets. PROs, in their interactions and agreements with each First Nation community, should make every effort to use the name that is preferred by the community.

First Nation communities outside the Far North that currently do not run a Blue Box program will be eligible to receive producer-run blue box services beginning January 1, 2026. First Nation communities interested in receiving producer-run Blue Box services must first register with RPRA at https://rpra.ca/programs/blue-box/regulation/first-nations/.

Updates to the Transition Schedule – Municipalities

We have also updated the Transition Schedule to add 11 small municipalities that were left off the first version of the schedule:

Dates for these communities have been assigned to align with transition dates of municipalities that are currently providing blue box services for these communities or with transition dates of neighbouring communities.