Ontario, Canada, has finished moving household recycling from a municipal responsibility to a producer responsibility. This guide summarises pages from Ontario’s regulator, the Resource Productivity and Recovery Authority (RPRA), on the transition and on the amendments to the Blue Box Regulation finalised in September 2025. It covers Ontario only and is not a description of UK, Irish or other Canadian provincial rules. It is general information for households and small businesses, not legal advice, and residents should check their own community’s collection details.

The transition to producer responsibility

RPRA says that as of 1 January 2026 Ontario’s Blue Box Program has completed the transition to full producer responsibility for packaging, paper products and packaging-like products, and municipalities are no longer responsible for operating or funding the programme. The Blue Box Regulation was made under the Resource Recovery and Circular Economy Act, 2016, and requires producers to operate and pay for the collection, reuse and recycling of Blue Box materials. The transition of municipalities and First Nation communities began on 1 July 2023.

The legacy programme operated by Stewardship Ontario wound up on 31 December 2025. RPRA says a producer responsibility organisation called Circular Materials operates the collection system on behalf of producers, and directs people with questions about collection in their community to that organisation’s website.

What producers must now do

The 2025 amendments, described in RPRA’s December 2025 summary, changed several requirements that affect what residents see:

• Producers must make “best efforts” to meet their management requirements for the 2026 and 2027 performance years. Before the amendments they were required to meet a set amount from 2026.
• The requirements for paper, glass, metal, rigid plastics and beverage containers are unchanged until 2032, when recovery percentages will rise to 85% for paper and glass, 75% for metal, 60% for rigid plastics and 80% for beverage containers.
• The planned expansion of public-space bins has been removed. Producers must maintain the existing public space bins in communities that were served under the legacy programme.
• From 2026, up to 15% of a producer’s management requirement can be met through energy from waste in each material category, where residue is used as fuel in limited circumstances. Before, producers could not count this.
• From 2026, producers are responsible only for beverage containers supplied to residential consumers. Beverage container producers may deduct what is collected from a business or institution where they are not required to provide Blue Box collection.

New homes, flats and drop-off depots

RPRA says that from 2026 producers must collect from new residences “as soon as is practicable”. Before the amendments the regulation set no timeline for newly built homes. The amendments change the definition of a residence to a building with five or fewer residential units, and the definition of a facility to a building that contains six or more dwelling units.

The amendments clarify that a resident who can use a municipal garbage depot must also be able to use the Blue Box depot to drop off Blue Box material. Collected material must be processed by a registered processor within three months of collection.

What residents and landlords should know

Under the amendments, producers must publish promotion and education material on a website in French and English, and provide it in print “upon request”, limited to once a year. Collection questions in a community go to Circular Materials, as RPRA directs. For general questions about the regulation, RPRA points to its Blue Box Program page, which also covers materials, roles, key dates and FAQs.

Why this differs from other countries

The Ontario model makes producers pay for household recycling collection under a provincial regulation. In England, councils have collected household recycling, with new requirements from 31 March 2026 described in the guide to household recycling collections in England, and England’s packaging producer charges are covered in the guide to extended producer responsibility for packaging. Rules differ between countries and provinces, so a comparison is for context rather than a substitute for local guidance.

FAQs

Who is responsible for Blue Box collection in Ontario now?

Producers of packaging, paper and packaging-like products, which RPRA says are financially responsible and accountable. Circular Materials operates the system on their behalf.

Did municipalities stop collecting recycling?

RPRA says municipalities are no longer responsible for operating or funding the programme. For collection questions in a community, RPRA directs people to Circular Materials.

Does this apply outside Ontario?

No. It concerns Ontario’s Blue Box Regulation only.

The bottom line

Ontario completed its move to a producer-run Blue Box programme on 1 January 2026, with producers financially responsible and Circular Materials operating the system. The 2025 amendments extend a “best efforts” standard for 2026 and 2027, allow limited energy from waste to count, and require new residences to be served as soon as practicable. Residents should check local collection details with their community and Circular Materials. This is general information, not legal advice.

Sources

This guide draws on the following primary sources, current as of 25 September 2026:

• Resource Productivity and Recovery Authority, “Ontario completes transition to producer-run Blue Box program” (January 2026)
• Resource Productivity and Recovery Authority, “Changes to the Blue Box Regulation: Details on management requirements, energy from waste, changes to collection, and other key amendments” (December 2025)
• Resource Productivity and Recovery Authority, “Blue Box”
• GOV.UK, “Simpler recycling: household recycling in England” (household collection requirements from 31 March 2026)

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