More Accurate Carton Recycling Rates in Ontario Revealed

Employees of AET Group conduct a polycoat bale audit at the Waterloo, Ontario MRF in March 2023.

The Carton Council of Canada has continued its efforts begun in 2021 to secure more accurate data on the recycling of cartons in Ontario. Recycling rates are calculated using the results of bale composition audits at a selection of material recovery facilities (MRFs) throughout the province. The CCC believed that the latest official carton recycling rate of 40% calculated by Stewardship Ontario[1] was understated because the MRF sample used was insufficiently representative. Namely, the sample proportionally featured too many municipalities that accept other fiber-based polycoat materials in their respective Blue Box program (such as disposable coffee cups and ice cream containers) and bale them together with food and beverage aseptic and gable top cartons.

In order to make the sample more representative and provide a greater level of precision, a new series of bale audits commissioned by the CCC were conducted over the past year by environmental consultancy AET Group at five Ontario MRFs, namely those in Hamilton, York, Northumberland, Peterborough and Waterloo. These complemented the audits conducted in 2021 at MRFs in Toronto, Peel and Durham.

CCC’s Managing Director Isabelle Faucher stands behind a sample of polycoat materials before sorting begins while attending the Waterloo audit in March 2023.

Together, the eight audits have enabled us to more confidently set the average proportion of cartons in Ontario polycoat bales (both those made up of cartons only and those that include other fibre-based polycoat materials) at 81.3%. This is almost 7% higher than the officially estimated proportion. This new figure then leads us to a recycling rate for cartons of 46.5%[2], compared to the last official rate of 40%. This would mean that approximately 1160 tonnes more cartons are being recovered each year than previously thought.

The CCC is satisfied that this new data more accurately reflects the state of carton recycling in the province. All the data collected and the methodology used will be shared with Ontario’s producer responsibility organizations (PROs), Circular Materials and RYSE Solutions, since they are the ones now responsible, under the new EPR blue box program, for tracking recovery and meeting targets starting in 2026. The CCC aims to work closely with the PROs and all other actors in the value chain to continue tracking and growing cartons’ recycling performance in the province.

In closing, we’d like to take the opportunity to extend our gratitude to all the MRFs that agreed to take part in our study.

[1] 2021 marked the last year that Stewardship Ontario released material-specific recycling rates (as part of the 2022 Fee Schedule), due to the wind down of its activities in the context of Ontario’s transition to full producer responsibility.

[2] This rate will be incorporated early next year into the annual update of the national rate that the CCC publishes on its website.