Raymond Report Sheds Light on Packaging 'Trash Wars' between Michigan and Ontario
- Published: October 18, 2004, By pffc-online.com
PRESS RELEASE
COLLEGE PARK, MD, USA — Raymond Communications' new report Canadian Recycling Policy: The Complete Guide for Product Makers "sheds some light on how many major US-based manufacturers and retailers have come to complain about having to pay 50 percent of Ontario's $118 million [Canadian dollars] 'Blue Box' recycling program," states the report author.
According to Raymond Communications, its ...Complete Guide for Product Makers provides insight into the program, which the report author says has resulted in "[a cross-border war with Michigan] over where to put more than 1.3 million tons of Ontario's Canadian trash."
"The report...provides a history and analysis of Ontario's various politcal battles over who will pay for its curbside recycling program, and a full province-by-province summary of most of the nation's 29 local 'producer responsibility' programs that affect everything from packaging to used oil and paint," states Raymond Communications.
The report author additionally states:
This is the first time product makers have had to calculate packaging fees in North America. (Exporters must pay weight-based packaging recycling fees now in more than 28 countries. All of them are federal laws in Europe and Asia.) In all, manufacturers will be be paying close to $100 million in packaging fees alone to the two provinces to reimburse them for curbside programs by 2005.
Some major brand owners have balked at the new "black hole" of fees, which have doubled in 12 months.
"The companies are being asked to reimburse local governments for a system that is not that efficient, but the province apparently will not reform its mandatory curbside recycling law to reduce costs," comments publisher Michele Raymond, who has observed recycling policy for 17 years. "It is bit ironic that none of these takeback laws affect commercial trash, which makes up the bulk of what is being shipped to Michigan."
Report author/publisher Raymond Communications says Canadian Recycling Policy: The Complete Guide for Product Makers comes with an audio CD of a workshop held at "Take It Back WEST" this year, "where experts provided practical details on how companies can deal with the Ontario packaging fees," adds Raymond.
More information about how to purchase Canadian Recycling Policy: The Complete Guide for Product Makers and on Raymond Communications — which publishes the newsletters State Recycling Laws Update and Recycling Laws International — is available at raymond.com.
