TORONTO - Ontario plans to make product manufacturers responsible for the province's Blue Box recycling program by 2025.
Environment Minister Jeff Yurek says the program, which is currently run by municipalities, will be transitioned in phases starting in 2023.
He says the move will encourage industry to change how it packages products to cut down on waste that is sent to landfills.
The new program would also streamline 240 existing municipal Blue Box programs in the province that have their own lists of accepted materials.
A government discussion paper released earlier this year said shifting the Blue Box recycling program to full producer responsibility is estimated to save municipalities more than $125 million annually.
Yurek says consultations will begin this fall on a new framework for the Blue Box program, including details on how producer responsibility would work.
