Alberta Environment and Parks (AEP) and Alberta Energy (AE) shared plans on Monday to undertake an ambitious consultation process on Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR).
The announcement was made to the provincial stakeholder group, the Plastics Alliance of Alberta, co-chaired by the Recycling Council of Alberta (RCA) and the Northern Alberta Institute of Technology (NAIT) and attended by members across the plastics value chain.
The announcement includes the goal to move to a 100 percent producer funded and operated system for packaging and paper products (PPP) and household hazardous waste (HHW) and will explore its application to other sectors and industries. The engagement will extend to mid-March 2021, and will include stakeholder groups, sectors across the value chain, and governments in other provinces through a series of meetings, webinars and one-on-one conversations.
"The RCA welcomes this consultation and believes Alberta is now poised to realize the triple bottom line benefits of EPR and experience the resiliency that other Canadian markets have seen through both global shifts in demand for recyclable materials and the current pandemic," commented RCA president Jodi Tomchyshyn London. "We will continue to advocate for EPR and all commitments that will lead Alberta toward a circular economy."
Following the engagement process and the analysis of feedback, a draft policy package will be created, then a review by cabinet in May with the goal for the introduction of an EPR regulatory framework by Summer 2021.
