Roundtable created to recommend how Ontario can fix flaws in blue box program

Citing continuing "glaring flaws" in the Ontario blue box recycling program, Magazines Canada has announced the creation of a roundtable to make recommendations to the province to change it . Ontario’s Minister of the Environment, John Gerretsen released a discussion paper on the Waste Diversion Act on October 21 for public consultation.

The proposed roundtable will reach beyond magazine companies and include printers and representatives of other print media. But the time for consultation is short; the province has given respondents only until January 15 to submit comments.

“We welcome the Minister’s initiative,” said Magazines Canada CEO Mark Jamison. “This is an opportunity to address the glaring flaws of a system that, among other concerns, does not ensure that foreign publishers pay any share of the blue box program. The results of this exercise will undoubtedly have implications for all such programs across the country.”

Canadian magazines take waste diversion responsibilities seriously and pay their way in blue box programs [said the release]. Magazines Canada will approach this consultation with the view that a cost efficient and effective program within which everyone pays their share and does their part is the fundamental basis upon which the Minister’s goals for success can be achieved.

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