Following the Resource Productivity & Recovery Authority’s (RPRA) recent conditional approval of the simplified fee-setting proposal for the Blue Box program, Stewardship Ontario will be consulting stakeholders about draft program Rules and a new Policy that will guide implementation.

Following the approval, and once Stewardship Ontario satisfies the specified conditions, most stewards will not be required to submit detailed material reports to Stewardship Ontario. This change may be effective beginning in 2022 and will be in place for the remaining years of the program, which ceases operations in 2025. Annual fees will be calculated from each steward’s budget share, with the percentage based on individual steward fees for invoice years 2021 and 2022 (2019 and 2020 sales data years).

The draft program Rules and Policy provide details about steward requirements for simplified fee setting. The drafts, along with the Addendum to the Blue Box Program Transition Plan and RPRA’s approval letter with conditions are available on the Stewardship Ontario website.

Stakeholders are encouraged to review the drafts and provide feedback during a two-week consultation period ending March 18, 2022. Comments and questions can be submitted to: consultation@stewardshipontario.ca.