Canada Mandates Reporting on Plastic Products, Packaging

Consumer product manufacturers, importers, and retailers in Canada face new reporting obligations under the Federal Plastics Registry (“Plastics Registry”), a data collection exercise to inform current and future regulation of plastics in the Canadian market.[1] With reporting obligations beginning as early as September 2025, covered entities will have to take steps now to ensure that they fulfill their reporting obligations. 

The Plastics Registry builds on existing reporting requirements for companies under provincial and territorial extended producer responsibility (“EPR”) programs. It requires producers of plastic products, among other regulated companies, to report information including the quantity and type of plastic introduced by their products into the Canadian market. The list of covered products is extensive, and includes plastic packaging, disposable products, apparel and textiles, and construction. 

The Plastics Registry is the latest step taken by Canada as part of a Zero Plastic Waste Agenda to manage and limit the quantity of plastics in the market, particularly single-use plastics, distributed nationwide. Down the road, the information compiled will inform stewardship and end-of-life management regulations. 

What is the purpose and scope of the Plastics Registry?

The Plastics Registry intends to strengthen the application of provincial and territorial EPR programs and inform future regulatory activities. The Plastics Registry’s reporting obligations both build on existing reporting requirements and extend compliance obligations to unregulated segments of the plastics industry. For example, the initial reporting obligations for calendar year 2024 apply to packaging, single-use or disposable plastics, and electronic and electrical equipment, because many Canadian jurisdictions already subject these product categories to EPR reporting obligations.

Several categories of companies are assigned reporting obligations under the Plastics Registry:

• Companies that manufacture, import, and place specified plastic resins on the market in Canada;
• Companies that manufacture, import, and place specified plastic products on the market in Canada;
• Companies that generate packaging and plastic product waste at their industrial, commercial or institutional (“ICI”) facility; and
• Companies that are service providers for the management of specified plastics or plastic products, and conduct defined “end-of-life” activities such as refurbishing, recycling, composting, or landfilling the plastic goods.

This article focuses on the obligations of companies in the second category – companies that introduce plastic products into the market in Canada – but companies that manage plastic resins, generate plastic waste at their ICI facilities, or provide “end-of-life” management for plastic goods may also contact Marten Law with questions regarding their compliance obligations.

What companies are “producers” subject to the reporting?

The producers of plastic products that must comply with the reporting obligations are defined according to the following hierarchy:

1. Brand owners or intellectual property holders who reside in Canada;
2. If there is no such party, the producer is the first resident person in Canada to import or manufacture the product;
3. If no such party under (A) or (B) exists, the producer is the Canadian retailer who supplied the product to the consumer. 

Special circumstances exist for online transactions when a retailer would be the producer under the hierarchy above, but that retailer is a marketplace seller whose goods are sold by a marketplace facilitator. A marketplace facilitator operates an online consumer-facing marketplace where the marketplace seller’s products are listed for sale, and physically distributes the marketplace seller’s products to the consumer, through storage, preparation, or shipping.^[2] If the retailer/marketplace seller contracts with a “marketplace facilitator” to sell their goods, then the marketplace facilitator will be the producer with the reporting obligation. 

What do producers need to report?

Producers need to report the total quantity of plastic packaging and products by resin, resin source, category, and subcategory that are manufactured, imported, or placed on the market in Canada, and:

• Destined for the residential waste stream;
• Destined for the industrial, commercial and institutional (“ICI”) waste stream;
• Destined for the construction, demolition, and renovation waste stream; or,
• Collected for end-of-life product management.

For the final reporting requirement, producers are asked to provide granular information regarding end-of-life outcomes for plastic placed on the market, such as whether the plastic is diverted for chemical recycling, incineration, composting, or other activities.[3] In practice, for most producers, this information will be provided by Producer Responsibility Organizations (“PROs”), as explained further below.

What is the due diligence standard?

These reporting obligations are issued as a Notice under section 46 of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 (“CEPA”), which authorizes Environmental and Climate Change Canada (“ECCC”) to request information to which a company “may reasonably be expected to have access.”[4] Obligated reporters are expected to contact their suppliers for requested information that the reporting company does not possess.

What are Producer Responsibility Organizations (“PROs”), and can they help producers meet their reporting obligations?

PROs help producers meet the requirements imposed by the provincial and territorial EPR programs. Canadian EPR programs require producers to not only fund end-of-life product management; they require those producers to administer the end-of-life management programs. These management responsibilities, such as collecting, processing, and tracking materials, are typically handled by PROs, whose activities are funded by their member producers. 

The Plastics Registry is designed to build on the framework created by existing EPR programs and specifically permits producers to authorize third parties to comply with reporting obligations on their behalf. Accordingly, PROs can report under the Plastics Registry on behalf of member producers, and the first categories of plastic products required to report – packaging, single-use and disposable products, and electronics – are already covered by EPR programs in many jurisdictions.[5] 

What exemptions for producer reporting obligations exist?

Producers that manufacture, import, or place onto the Canadian market less than 1,000 kg of plastic in specified product or packaging categories per year are exempt from reporting obligations.[6]

Are there confidential business information protections?

ECCC intends to publish information on plastic products received in response to the Notice. However, as with other reporting obligations under CEPA, a company may request the information be treated as confidential if: the information is a trade secret; its disclosure would likely cause material financial loss to or prejudice the competitive position of the submitter; or its disclosure would likely interfere with negotiations being conducted by the submitter.[7]

The ECCC may nonetheless publish the information if: its disclosure is in the interest of protecting the environment, public health, or public safety; and the public interest in the disclosure outweighs any material financial loss or prejudice to the competitive position of the submitter and any damage to the privacy, reputation, or human dignity of such person.[8] ECCC also suggested during earlier consultation phases that provincial and territorial governments might receive all raw data supplied through the Plastics Registry to assist with EPR program compliance and enforcement, but the final notice does not state whether such sharing will occur.

What are the reporting timelines?

The first reporting deadline is September 29, 2025, at which point producers of plastic packaging, electronic and electrical equipment, and single-use or disposable products must report information regarding plastics placed on the market in calendar year 2024 that are destined for the residential waste stream. The Notice does not include a provision for requesting extensions.

The table below outlines the calendar year for which producers of specified plastic good categories must begin providing the requested information. The reporting deadline for the requested information from each calendar year is September 29 of the following year. Producers must then continue fulfilling any reporting obligations through at least calendar year 2026; Canada has not yet released clear directions regarding what reporting obligations will remain in subsequent years.