About the Guidebook

Circular Materials Materials has prepared this Guidebook to help organizations understand their potential legal obligations as stewards (sometimes referred to as producers) under the provincial packaging and paper product (PPP) materials recycling regulations in British Columbia (BC), Saskatchewan (SK), Manitoba (MB) and Ontario (ON).

Stewards should note that due to the slight variations in the description and definition of designated materials across provinces, for the purposes of harmonization, Circular Materials uses Packaging and Paper Product or PPP as an umbrella term to cover the designated materials across the four programs.

This Guidebook was created to provide existing and prospective stewards of the four PPP stewardship programs supported by Circular Materials with a single resource that is harmonized among provinces to the greatest extent possible. It provides an outline of stewards’ obligations across all four provincial programs serving as a single resource for packaging and paper product stewardship obligations in Canada (with the exception of Quebec).

This Guidebook has been created for the convenience of stewards.  Every effort is made by Circular Materials staff to provide stewards with accurate guidance. However, please note the following: the Guidebook does not constitute legal advice. In the event of a discrepancy between the information in this Guidebook and a program’s legal documents, including legislation, guidance from the program’s regulator, the applicable program’s approved packaging and paper plan, program Rules, Policies or Membership Agreements (collectively the “program’s legal documents”) the applicable program’s legal documents are binding on stewards and take precedence over the information in this Guidebook.

This Guidebook will be updated as needed and registered stewards will be advised of updates to this Guidebook. This Guidebook is in effect from its date of publication until a subsequent version is published. Subsequent versions will supersede the contents of this document.  Circular Materials reserves the right to change this Guidebook at any time by publishing such changes online. Stewards will be notified of any substantive changes or the posting of additional resource materials to this Guidebook. The information in this Guidebook cannot be re-published without the written permission of Circular Materials.

The Guidebook for Stewards is organized in three parts: