Can new recycling rules help solve Ontario’s landfill capacity crisis?

With landfill space expected to run out across Ontario within the next decade, policy makers want businesses to play a larger role in reducing waste.

The Ontario government is rolling out tougher regulations across the province in the new year “to ensure producers – not taxpayers – cover the cost of managing the waste they create,” according to an e-mail statement from Alexandru Cioban, press secretary for the minister of environment, conservation and parks.

This regulatory framework is called Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR).

It’s meant to “shift the financial and operational responsibility of recycling from municipalities to the organizations that produce packaging, paper and packaging–like products,” according to the Circular Materials website.

Circular Materials is a national