Glossary of Terms: Extended Producer Responsibility and Product Stewardship Inventory of Programs

Deposit/refund systems require consumers to pay a monetary deposit for a purchased product which is partially or fully reimbursed when the product is returned for re-use or recycling at the end-of-life. Some programs in Canada also use a discretionary recycling fee, charged by industry stewards at the point of sale, in addition to the deposit.

In order to fund legislated extended producer responsibility (EPR) programs, affected producers (brand-owners, manufacturers or first importers) may charge consumers an "environmental fee", visible on receipts and invoices. The fee may be designated as an “eco-fee”, an “environmental handling charge or fee”, a “recycling fee” or a “surcharge”, depending on the region and program. In the case of legislated EPR programs, fees are commonly managed by not-for-profit organizations or industry associations, whereas under product stewardship initiatives, these are managed by government agencies. Governments may approve the fees through the stewardship plan or may set the fees for product stewardship programs. Legislated EPR and product stewardship programs are usually required (i.e. via regulation and/or government approved stewardship plans) to submit annual statements of program revenues and expenditures to governments. These may be available on the program websites or on request.

Extended producer responsibility (EPR) is a policy approach in which a producer’s responsibility, physical and/or financial, for a product is extended to the post-consumer stage of a product’s life cycle. For more information on EPR please visit the Frequently Asked Questions section of our Website.

Commonly refers to brand owners, first importers and manufacturers of designated materials under extended producer responsibility (EPR) programs, destined for collection and reuse, recycling or environmentally sound management.

The term “producer” is used to refer to brand owners, first importers and manufacturers of products and packaging. “Producers” are referred to as “industry stewards” when they are legally obligated to recover and recycle their products and/ or packaging at end-of-life.

A “producer responsibility organization” (PRO), usually a not-for-profit organization or an industry association, is the entity designated by a producer or producers to act on their behalf to administer an extended producer responsibility or product stewardship program. In Canada, a PRO may also be referred to as a “stewardship organization,” an “industry funding organization” or a “delegated administrative organization”.

Product stewardship initiatives are end-of-life management programs for designated products, in which producers (i.e. brand owners, importers or manufacturers) are neither directly responsible for program funding or operations. Programs may be financed through public funds or through revenues generated by legislated fees at the point of sale.

Programs identified as “shared responsibility” are in part industry funded and/or operated. These programs are often the result of an agreement, partnership or in some cases industry stewards may be designated by law to provide funding for a specific program (e.g. multi-material stewardship programs - blue box - in Manitoba, Ontario and Québec).

A “stewardship plan” or “program plan” sets out how designated producers will meet their legal obligations to collect and recycle their products or packaging once they have reached their end-of-life. Generally, stewardship plans may include details on how end-of-life products or packaging are to be collected and recycled, how program performance will be measured, targets for collection, reuse (where applicable), recycling and public awareness, timelines for implementation, program funding and reporting protocols. Producers are commonly responsible for preparing their own individual stewardship plans or can join a collective stewardship program under a “producer responsibility organization”.