Federal Plastics Registry Reporting Rules to Take Effect in 2025

On April 22, 2024, the federal government took another major step forward in its plan to eliminate all plastic waste by 2030 by giving the Minister of Environment and Climate Change Canada (MECCC) official authorization to create a new Federal Plastics Registry. Here’s a briefing on the new Registry initiative and its practical significance.

What the New Federal Plastics Registry Is

The Registry is a public-facing website containing data that resin manufacturers, plastics management firms and manufacturers of plastic products must report about the quantities and types of plastics they produce, import and place on the market during the year. The point of the Registry is to promote greater transparency on plastic waste, pollution and recovery across the country.

Companies Required to Report to Federal Plastics Registry

The Registry will cover a broad range of categories and activities. The former include packaging, single-use and disposable products, construction, transportation, electronics, electrical equipment, tires, textiles and apparel, fishing and aquaculture and agriculture and horticulture equipment. Three kinds of smaller companies are exempt from the Registry reporting requirements, including those that:

• Manufacture, import or place on the market less than 1,000 kg of plastic products or packaging per calendar year;
• Generate less than 1,000 kg of packaging and plastic product waste at their industrial, commercial or institutional facility per calendar year; or
• Manages less than 1,000 kg of plastic via certain specifically listed activities per calendar year.

Covered companies will have to report on the quantity of plastic they collect, reuse, recycle, repair, remanufacture, refurbish, recycle, compost, incinerate and landfill during the year. Companies that generate packaging or plastic product waste will also have to report on the amount of packaging or plastic waste generated on their industrial, commercial and institutional premises.

When the Federal Plastics Registry Reporting Rules Take Effect

The MECCC’s plan is to implement the Registry reporting requirements in phases that will vary by sector:

Phase 1: Starting in September 2025, covered companies will have to report on the amount of plastic in packaging, electronic and electrical equipment products (EEE), and single-use or disposable plastic products that they manufactured, imported or placed on the market during the 2024 calendar year.

Phase 2: In 2026, other sectors will have to begin reporting, including manufacturers and importers of resin for packaging, agriculture/horticulture, tires, transportation, construction, fishing/aquaculture and textiles/apparel. In addition, companies that had to start reporting in Phase 1 will have to report broader kinds of information.

Phase 3: In 2027, EEE and tires reporting companies will have to begin reporting on the quantity of plastic collected at end of life and sent for diversion and disposal.

Phase 4: After 2027, additional reporting on the quantity of plastic collected at end of life and sent for diversion and disposal for transportation, construction, fishing/aquaculture and textiles/apparel products will begin at a timetable to be determined by the MECCC.

How Federal Plastics Registry Reporting Will Work

Covered companies will have to submit the required information using the Federal Plastics Registry online portal, which hasn’t yet gone live but is expected to do so in the second half of 2024. Companies can make a written request that the submitted information be kept confidential in accordance with Section 52 of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, which provides for protection of information submitted to MECCC if:

• The information is a trade secret;
• Disclosing the information would likely cause the submitting company “material financial loss” or “prejudice” to its “competitive position; and
• Disclosure would likely interfere with contractual or other negotiations.