In Ontario, if you purchase batteries, electronics, household hazardous and special products, lighting, tires, or materials that end up in your Blue Box, you may see an extra charge added to your receipt called an environmental fee, resource recovery fee, environmental handling fee, tire handling fee, eco-fee, recycling fee or something similar.
These fees may be applied at the discretion of businesses to cover their costs related to recycling their products.
The Resource Productivity and Recovery Authority does not charge or mandate that businesses charge environmental fees, nor do we set the amount of the fee to be charged. The regulations that detail the obligations for recycling batteries, Blue Box materials, electronics and lighting,hazardous and special products and tires also do not require the use of these fees.
It is up to each business to decide whether to charge environmental fees on their products and determine what amount the fee should be to recover their recycling costs.
As of March 2023, the promotion and education requirements related to environmental fees have been removed from the regulations for tires, batteries, electronics and lighting, and hazardous and special products. No changes were made to the Blue Box Regulation as it does not have promotion and education requirements related to these fees. Businesses will continue to have discretion over whether they charge a fee to recover the cost of recycling their products. However, with this amendment, if they charge a fee, they are no longer required to provide information about who is charging the fee and what it will be used for.
RPRA’s compliance bulletin Charging Tire Fees to Consumers has since been revoked and RPRA has ceased its enforcement of promotion and education requirements for visible fees across all materials.
What you need to know about environmental fees
Click the headings below to learn more about frequently asked questions on environmental fees.
Businesses have the choice to recover the cost of recycling their products by incorporating those costs into the overall cost of their product (as they do with other costs, such as materials, labour, other regulatory compliance costs, etc.) or by charging it as a separate fee to consumers.
Environmental fees are not mandatory and are applied at the discretion of the business charging them, including the amount of the fee.
Consumer protection laws in Ontario prohibits the misrepresentation of charges, which means that producers or retailers cannot misrepresent any visible fees as a regulatory charge, tax, RPRA fee or something similar. Consumers who have questions or concerns about a specific transaction or want to report a misrepresentation can contact the Ministry of Public and Business Service Delivery at 1-800-889-9768.
As of March 2023, the promotion and education requirements related to environmental fees have been removed from the Tires, Batteries, Electrical and Electronic Equipment, and Hazardous and Special Products regulations. No changes were made to the Blue Box Regulation as it never contained promotion and education requirements related to these fees. Businesses will continue to have discretion over whether they charge a fee to recover the cost of recycling their products. However, with this amendment, if they charge a fee, they are no longer required to provide information about who is charging the fee and what it will be used for.
RPRA’s compliance bulletin Charging Tire Fees to Consumers has since been revoked and RPRA has ceased its enforcement of promotion and education requirements for visible fees across all materials.
The regulations do not set an environmental fee for any product, the amount of the fee charged is decided by the business.
No. An environmental fee is not a government tax and cannot be represented as mandatory, a regulatory charge, or an RPRA fee. It is a fee charged at the discretion of a business to recover their costs related to recycling the product.
If you are a consumer and believe that the purpose of a fee is being misrepresented, contact the Ministry of Public and Business Service Delivery directly at 1-800-889-9768.
If you are concerned about the fee you were charged, you should contact the business that charged you the fee to request a more detailed explanation of how the fee was determined.
Have a question?
If you are a producer or retailer and have questions about charging environmental fees, you can contact the Compliance Team at registry@rpra.ca or 1-833-600-0530.
If you are a consumer and believe that the purpose of a fee is being misrepresented, contact the Ministry of Public and Business Service Delivery directly at 1-800-889-9768.
