Green Manitoba is coordinating the development of a new waste minimization strategy for Manitoba that incorporates the principles of product stewardship and extended producer responsibility (EPR).
Extended producer responsibly provides two main benefits:
- EPR shifts the burden of responsibility for post consumer waste products from taxpayers to producers and consumers; and
- EPR helps reduce the environmental impact of a product at the post-consumer phase by promoting better product design by producers.
Green Manitoba is currently focusing on four product stewardship priorities:
- Tires
- Multi-Material recycling (Blue Box Recycling)
- Household Hazardous Waste
- Waste Electronics
Manitoba has been actively working with stakeholders to implement product stewardship programs since 1990 in an effort to reduce the amount of waste going to landfill and to conserve resources. Manitoba’s first product stewardship programs – the Manitoba Tire Stewardship Board (TSB) and the Manitoba Product Stewardship Corporation (MPSC) – were established in 1995. Increased industry responsibility in the design and operation of stewardship programs is needed for greater flexibility to match revenue generation mechanisms with program expenditure requirements to ensure program sustainability.
In developing new stewardship programs for Manitoba, the revised program focus will be consistent with current national and international approaches whereby the costs of managing designated waste materials are transferred from the municipal tax base to the producers and users of these products. Regional consistency in the operation of these programs is also desirable. Manitoba’s Oil Stewardship Program managed by the Manitoba Association of Resource Recovery Corp. (MARRC) was built on these principles in 1997 and forms the model for Manitoba’s enhanced product stewardship initiative launched by Green Manitoba in 2005.
In Canada there are currently over 50 Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR)/Product Stewardship Programs operating at regional, provincial, and national levels. These programs address more than a dozen separate products and materials.