Bill 225 explained in plain English
Resource Recovery and Circular Economy Amendment Act (Beverage Container Deposit Program), 2024
Ontario legislature bill summary, status, timeline, sponsor, votes, and official sources.
At a glance
Official Legislative Assembly of Ontario snapshot for 43rd Parliament, 1st Session. Representative vote breakdowns appear when the Assembly publishes an Ayes and Nays page for the bill.
Our plain-language take, written for civic education.
Source: By PoliticalData.ca
This bill amends the Resource Recovery and Circular Economy Act, 2016, to establish a province-wide beverage container deposit program requiring designated grocery stores and Brewers Retail Inc. stores to act as collection depots and issue deposit refunds.
This bill, called the Resource Recovery and Circular Economy Amendment Act (Beverage Container Deposit Program), 2024, proposes changes to Ontario's Resource Recovery and Circular Economy Act, 2016. The main goal is to establish a beverage container deposit program across the province. The bill would define what qualifies as a 'grocery store' for the purposes of this program, and it would require certain grocery stores and stores operated by Brewers Retail Inc. to act as collection depots for beverage containers. These designated stores would be required to accept returned beverage containers and provide refunds of the deposit paid. The bill also sets out the minimum deposit amounts for different sizes of beverage containers and mandates that these deposits must be paid and refunded according to regulations. The amendments are set to come into effect one year after the bill receives Royal Assent.
- Amends the Resource Recovery and Circular Economy Act, 2016.
- Adds a definition for 'grocery store' based on size, the types of food products offered, and primary identification.
- Authorizes Cabinet to establish and govern a beverage container deposit program.
- Requires the payment and refund of a minimum beverage container deposit.
- Mandates that certain grocery stores and stores operated by Brewers Retail Inc. act as collection depots for beverage containers.
- Requires these collection depots to provide refunds of the applicable deposit.
- Establishes that failure by Brewers Retail Inc. and grocery store owners to comply with these requirements is an offence.
- Specifies that the Act comes into force one year after receiving Royal Assent.
- Consumers returning beverage containers.
- Grocery store owners (defined by specific criteria).
- Brewers Retail Inc. and its store operators.
- The Province of Ontario (through regulation and oversight of the program).
- The right for consumers to receive a refund for a returned beverage container deposit.
- The obligation for designated grocery stores and Brewers Retail Inc. stores to act as collection depots.
- The obligation for these stores to provide the applicable deposit refund.
- The obligation for Brewers Retail Inc. and grocery store owners to ensure compliance with these collection and refund requirements.
- The requirement to pay a minimum deposit of 10 cents for containers up to one litre, and 25 cents for containers over one litre.
- The Act comes into force one year after receiving Royal Assent.
- The bill requires the payment and refund of beverage container deposits, specifying minimum amounts (10 cents and 25 cents).
- It creates an obligation for specific stores to provide these refunds.
- It is an offence for Brewers Retail Inc. and grocery store owners to fail to comply with the requirements to act as collection depots and provide refunds.
- The specific details of the beverage container deposit program, including which beverage containers are included and the precise operational requirements for collection depots, will be determined by future regulations.
- The definition of 'grocery store' depends on regulations for defining 'blue box material'.
- The bill does not specify the exact penalties for non-compliance, only stating that failure to comply is an offence.
This bill amends this Act to introduce a beverage container deposit program and define 'grocery store' in the context of the program.
Source: Section 1, Section 107.1
Adds a definition for 'grocery store'.
Source: Section 1
Expands regulation-making powers to establish and govern a beverage container deposit program and to require and govern collection depots for blue box materials, including mandates for deposit payment, refund, and compliance by specified stores.
Source: Section 3
This Act is referenced in the definition of 'grocery store' to exclude stores primarily identified as pharmacies.
Source: Section 1
Generated using AI from official bill text. Not legal advice. It is written by PoliticalData.ca for civic education, automatically checked and spot-reviewed before publishing.
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Vote Summary
This bill is still active. We only show vote counts after the legislature publishes a recorded division.
No published representative vote breakdown
This bill is still moving through the process. When a recorded division is published, representative positions can be listed here.
Official sources
Status, sponsor, votes, and timeline on this page are drawn from these official legislative sources and public records. Each summary above is attributed to its own source.
How this data is sourced