Have you ever noticed how much packaging surrounds the products we buy? Tiny items delivered in oversized boxes stuffed with Styrofoam or bubble wrap, slices of cheese or bread individually wrapped in plastic envelopes, fruit or vegetables bundled on plastic trays covered in plastic wrap, blister packs for tiny items, embedded on large cardboard shelf hangers, (that are virtually impossible to open), or electronics wrapped in foam, inside a box which is then wrapped in another box.
All this may be about to change in Ontario. This past Thursday, January 1st, responsibility for residential recycling in the province shifted away from municipal governments. The costs of collecting and disposing of recycled material are now borne by retailers and packaging producers under a policy approach called Extended Producer Responsibility, (EPR).
