Ontario's Bill 91 Waste Reduction Act likely to die on order paper

[This post has been updated] Who says there is no good news? With the near certainty that there will be a June election called in Ontario now that the NDP has said it won't support the Wynne government's budget, the legislature would be prorogued and, with it, will go Bill 91, The Waste Reduction Act. The draft legislation about waste diversion would have been bad news for the magazine publishing sector -- too expensive, lacking in accountability, worse in several aspects from the Blue Box system that is in place now. The draft bill would have required producers (publishers) to pay 100% of the costs without having 100% control over those costs. 

A new government, no matter what party gets in power (highly likely to be short-lived minority government) would have the opportunity to rethink the waste diversion regime and, working with all the stakeholders -- including publishers -- could come up with something that looks after the environment and the taxpayer. 

[Update: It should be noted that dozens of other pieces of very worthwhile legislation are also off the order paper with the election.]

We'll pay our fair share of Ontario Blue Box, say publishers, but we must control costs

While Ontario publishers are prepared to pay a fair share of the Ontario Blue Box recycling program, says Magazines Canada in a written submission to the Ontario Ministry of the Environment, this cannot happen unless publishers have a significant say in both how fees are set and control over costs.  The submission is presented in parallel with one from The Coalition for Effective Waste Reduction in Ontario. 

The association says proposed changes in the legislation about recyling cannot work unless producers who are now required to pay 100% of the program costs also have control of  those costs. Ontario publishers, it says, cannot simply be expected to write cheques.

"Under the new Act, producers must have decision-making authority over cost control equal to their responsibility to pay."

Magazines Canada's submission about the proposed new Waste Reduction Act also revisits the issue of so-called "free riders" on the system, particularly including U.S.- and foreign-origin magazines which pay nothing to maintain the system in which they account for as much as half the contents of the typical blue box.

"Any new system must be better designed. Shortcomings in capturing producers cannot be made the responsibility of magazine publishers. Magazine publishers are very prepared to pay to recycle our own paper but they are not prepared to pay any longer to recycle magazines like Vogue, the New Yorker, InStyle or hundreds of other large foreign publishers who are much better funded competitors."

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Registration deadline is only nine days away for BC blue box program

As the deadline looms for publishers in BC to register for the Multi-Material British Columbia (MMBC) residential blue box recycling program, or face penalties, according to a just-published article from Magazines Canada. The article should clear up some of the fog and misinformation that has swirled around these regulations, which requires registration by March 31. 

"At the end of the day, publishers are responsible for the products that they produce," the article says. "We strongly recommend that all publishers supplying magazines in/into BC (that end up in the residential Blue Box program) should register with MMBC to avoid future complications."

BC-based publishers are required to register or face possible late fees and/or penalties up to $200,000 imposed by the Ministry of the Environment.  Non-BC publishers who circulate subscription, newsstand and controlled copies into BC would be wise to register, Magazines Canada says. Publishers would do well to register directly rather than deferring to a distributor, wholesaler or retailer, although that is allowed under the regulation; registering directly with MMBC may save publishers money in fees and administrative markups.

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Industry manages to cut Ontario blue box levy increase for magazines by two-thirds

Magazines Canada has succeeded in convincing Stewardship Ontario to moderate its blue box levy for 2013. Where tonnage fees for the printed paper category were originally set to go up almost 56% to $0.0849/kg in the coming year, a more modest -- but still bracing -- increase of 18.7% to $0.0647/kg has been approved.

Stewardship Ontario publicly agreed that the proposed 2013 magazine rate was unfair and, as a result, worked within the Steward organization to find a solution [Magazines Canada said in a bulletin to members]. The rate situation is made even more egregious because Canadian publishers are paying for foreign publisher recycling. Foreign magazines contribute nothing to the financial operation of the Blue Box system despite contributing an estimated 30%+ of total magazine tonnage. It is called "free riding" and it is simply wrong. In addition to the fee reduction, Stewardship Ontario will undertake more studies on long-term fee impacts and free riders for use in 2014 rate discussions.