OVERVIEW
VANCOUVER, FEBRUARY 2012
WHO AND WHAT IS EPR CANADA?EPR Canada has been formed by a group of like-minded
individuals with extensive EPR experience and connections across the country- Geoff Love - Jo-Anne St. Godard - Duncan Bury - Christina Seidel- Glenda Gies - Don Jardine-Georges Portelance
EPR Canada is dedicated to fostering informed debate and to being a forum to advance EPR in Canada by focusing on and promoting:Leadership and innovationBest practices in policy development and program operationsDefining and advancing efficient and effective program, implementation, management and harmonization
WHO IS FUNDING THE INITIATIVE AND WHAT IS THE BUDGET?Currently supported by the seven partnersNo government funding will be acceptedPlanned first year budget of approximately $20,000
Hard costs – translation, website, printing, telephone Intention of creating a post-graduate student scholarship to
support questionnaire administration and evaluation
EPR QUESTIONNAIRE AND REPORT CARDEPR Canada is developing Canada’s first environmental
report card of federal, provincial and territorial EPR policies and program performance
Ministers will receive a questionnaire with a set of questions on EPR policies and programs in their jurisdiction
Responses will be evaluated and scored by the seven EPR Canada partners
Scores will indicate areas of strength and potential areas of policy and program improvement
The report card is modeled on the successful report card developed and published by the Canadian Energy Efficiency Alliance (CEEA)
CEEA QUESTIONNAIRE AND REPORT CARD MODELCanadian Energy Efficiency Alliance (CEEA) modelEvaluation of government energy efficiency policy and programsHigh participation - successful co-ordinated multi- stakeholder promotion of energy efficiency
WHY IS EPR/REP CANADA SPONSORING A REPORT CARD?There is no aggregated or comparative national reporting
on EPR in CanadaGovernment legislation and actions play a key role in
stimulating private sector and consumer activity in EPR program development, performance and monitoring
The report card will assist in identifying best practices and enhancing the standards, effectiveness and efficiency of EPR policies and programs
The report card will allow benchmarking and comparison of policies and programs and support the further development and use of EPR instruments
WHO IS THE AUDIENCE FOR THE REPORT CARD?Government officials and elected representatives
Governments will be able to benchmark their performance against other jurisdictions and
Will be able to identify best practices which could assist in advancing EPR in their own jurisdictions
Producers, brand owners, producer responsibility organizations and industry and business associations Will have a concise national overview of EPR implementation,
practice and plans Results will encourage further harmonization of programs
across the country in the interests of program effectiveness and efficiency.
THE QUESTIONNAIREUses the OECD/CCME definition of EPRUses weighted criteria and will include a guide on how to
respondQuestion categories:
Producer responsibility policy and action Progress on commitments to the CCME Canada-wide Action Plan for
EPR Progress on other waste reduction and waste diversion commitments Program transparency and accountability Program targets, performance measurement and reporting Decision-making and approvals process Harmonization Progress on design for the environment Leadership and innovation Awareness and public outreach
WHO WILL BE EVALUATING THE QUESTIONNAIRE RESPONSES AND PREPARING THE REPORT CARD?The review panel will be made up of the initial seven
members of EPR Canada for this first year. Additional panelists may be added in future years. Panelists will not be paid for their time to review the
governments’ EPR submissions or to prepare the summary report/evaluations of the information submitted through the completed questionnaires.
QUESTIONNAIRE AND REPORT CARD TIMETABLE The questionnaire and guide explaining the questions will
be ready to distribute to federal, provincial and territorial government ministers in February/March 2012
Six to eight weeks will be given to complete the questionnaire
Four to six weeks will be necessary to conduct the review and prepare a summary report
The first report is to be made public by the end of June 2012.
EPR Canada plans over the next 5 years to prepare a regular report card on each government’s EPR activities
WILL THE RESULTS BE PUBLIC AND PUBLISHED?The results will be made public during an environment
week or at some other related public event Individual, detailed government submissions will not be
made public by EPR Canada A summary report, with individual jurisdiction scores, will
be distributed to the media and other interested stakeholders
The report will also be posted on the EPR Canada website which is currently being developed
WHAT HAPPENS IF JURISDICTIONS CHOOSE NOT TO PARTICIPATE?This is a voluntary initiative – no jurisdiction is required to
participateNon-responses will however be noted in the report card In the case of the Canadian Energy Efficiency Alliance,
provincial authorities have found it to be in their interest to respond to the questionnaire and have used the report card to conduct an independent “check–up” of their progress against their energy efficiency goals and objectives and to measure progress relative to other jurisdictions
It is anticipated that the EPR Canada initiative will similarly support best practices and can also contribute to the goal of helping to harmonize EPR programs in different parts of Canada
FOR FURTHER INFORMATIONDuncan Bury
duncan @ duncanburyconsulting.ca (613) 729-0499
Geoff Love loveenvironment @ routcom.com (647) 248-2500