Extended Producer Responsibility will have an impact on sustainable packaging. Some companies are already creating innovative and reusable packaging to reduce waste.
The demand for sustainable packaging in Alberta is increasing. There are several initiatives under way this year that will influence how product packaging is designed, manufactured, and managed. Organizations such as the Recycling Council of Alberta (RCA), a non-profit with over 350 members committed to promoting, facilitating, and advocating for circular economies in Alberta, are at the forefront of these changes.
Extended producer responsibility
The sustainability of packaging will be influenced by the new Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) system—a system strongly advocated for by the RCA. EPR shifts the physical and financial burden of collecting, sorting, and processing designated materials, including packaging, to the makers of packaging and away from municipalities. The provincial government sets the required percentage that each type of packaging material must meet each year then incrementally increases the requirements over time. This means producers are now legally required to collect, process, and recycle a specific amount of each type of packaging materials produced in the province – such as cardboard, hard plastics, and flexible plastics. With the onus on the producers, they will have strong incentives, financially and legally, to create packaging that is sustainable. For example, producers can meet their requirements through reduction by making smaller packages, increased recyclability by making packages that are more readily recyclable, by creating packages that can be reused, or eliminating the need for packaging all together.
The sustainability of packaging will be influenced by the new Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) system—a system strongly advocated for by the RCA. EPR shifts the physical and financial burden of collecting, sorting, and processing designated materials, including packaging, to the makers of packaging and away from municipalities.
Reusable packaging
There are also noteworthy voluntary measures expanding or launching this year in Alberta. One exciting example is Earthware, a Calgary company (and RCA member) that partners with local restaurants to provide reusable take out container’s consumers can request and pay a deposit on. The container can then be returned to a designated Depot for a refund. Earthware’s successful pilot program is expanding and will have a significant impact on reducing the 450 million single-use takeout containers winding up in Alberta landfills each year. In the past three years, Earthware has diverted 154,034 containers from landfills. Another example is the Reuse in the Prairies project which searches out product contenders for reusable packaging exchange programs at local grocery stores. The RCA proudly supports this project as a stakeholder.
2024 is poised to be a significant year for positive change in sustainable packaging in Alberta with even more examples to be highlighted at the RCA’s annual conference in October, an event focused on innovators and organizations dedicated to waste reduction and resource conservation including exciting advances in sustainable packaging.
Visit recycle.ab.ca to learn more about sustainability, circular economies and zero waste initiatives.
