Registering for EPR

Municipal participation in Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) is voluntary. Municipalities must indicate their interest by registering with the Alberta Recycling Management Authority (ARMA) to be eligible for EPR. The following steps give you an overview of the registration process with ARMA. More details can be found on ARMA’s EPR webpage. 

 

Registering

Registration for EPR remains open with ARMA. 

Communities registering after December 31, 2023, as well as communities currently without recycling services, will commence recycling collection services in Phase 2, starting on October 1, 2026. 

Communities with existing services that registered for EPR before December 31, 2023, will begin receiving collection under the program on April 1, 2025. 

  • Detailed registration information is available on the ARMA website or by contacting ARMA via epr [at] albertarecycling.ca (email).
  • Communities must complete two registration forms for the two main product streams: Single-use Products, Packaging, and Paper Products (PPP), and Hazardous and Special Products (HSP). Recycling collection services for HSP will be available to both single-family and multi-family dwellings, recycling depots, and collection events, all of which play crucial roles in the responsible disposal and recycling of HSP. 
  • Regional waste commissions can register member municipalities on their behalf.   
  • Registering does not require a council decision as the community is not committed to anything at this stage. Municipalities can deregister. 
  • Municipalities can prepare for the EPR registration process. Some questions to answer are:  
    • Contact information for your municipality.  
    • Total population.  
    • Service levels in your municipality.  
    • Number of residential addresses and the number receiving paper and plastic recycling collection.   
    • Number and location of depot recycling collection sites. 

 

Post-registration

For those municipalities who want EPR in their community, producers will become responsible for recycling. However, there is a range of ways producers become responsible for operations, including: 

  • Hiring a municipality or a private service provider to perform specific functions, including collection.   
  • If a municipality becomes a service provider to a producer it does so under a mutually agreeable, contractual relationship directly between the producer and the municipality.  
  • Under EPR, producers, not the municipality, are responsible for achieving its regulated outcomes.    
  • Producers must submit their plans to ARMA to collect and manage their designated materials by April 1, 2024—then become responsible for the collection and management of recyclables by April 1, 2025 (for single-family residential) from municipalities.   
  • Municipalities must agree to enable producers to become responsible for the collection and management of designated material before any changes to local system operations can be made.   
  • Producers must implement plans for multi-unit residential housing on April 1, 2025—where the community authority is currently providing recycling services.   

Waste collection programs in municipalities can vary widely, so each municipality will have different impacts and considerations to work through. If you have any questions, please contact kris [at] abmunis.ca (Kris Samraj), Policy Analyst at Alberta Municipalities or contact epr [at] albertarecycling.ca (ARMA).