The 3Rs Regulations are designed to ensure that industrial, commercial and institutional (IC&I) sectors and municipalities develop programs to reduce the amount of valuable resources going to disposal.  These regulations are:

The 3R’s Regulations apply to all non-hazardous solid wastes from residential, industrial, commercial and institutional sources.

Ontario’s Waste Reduction Target

The government of Ontario has established a target to decrease the amount of waste going to disposal by at least 60% by the year 2008 compared to a base year of 2004, when Ontario’s diversion rate was 28%.

Highlights and excerpts from Ontario Regulation 102:94: Waste Audits and Waste Reduction Workplans.

Waste Reduction Reporting Requirements

A waste audit and waste reduction workplan must be documented in written reports.  A waste reduction workplan must set out who will implement each part of the plan, when each part will be implemented and the expected results.

• A report of a waste audit or waste reduction workplan must be on a form provided by the ministry or in the same format.
• A report of a waste audit and a reduction workplan must be retained on file for at least 5 years.
• The waste reduction workplan or a summary of the workplan must be posted in places where employees will see it. An employee must be allowed to see the workplan on request.
• The owner or operator of a designated establishment must submit the most recent audit and workplan within 7 days to the ministry, when requested by a ministry director.
• A waste audit must address the extent to which materials or products used by the owner consist of recycled or reused materials or products.
• A waste reduction workplan must deal with the wastes generated by the operation of the designated establishment.

Highlights and excerpts from Ontario Regulation 103/94:  Industrial, Commercial and Institutional Source Separation Programs

Effective use of Separated Materials

Designated waste generators must make reasonable efforts to ensure that the separated waste is reused or recycled.  The materials must be handled in a way that will not degrade their quality (such as mixing with other waste).

If the materials are sent to a depot located at a landfill site or another waste disposal site, they must eventually be forwarded to a recycling site or end-user.

Wastes that must be source separated:

A waste audit will determine if there are insignificant amounts of a material in the waste stream.  If this is so, or if it is not a normal part of the operation, then the material is not expected to be included in the source separation program.

A waste that is sent to a site that will use it for a combustion process or land application is not exempt from this regulation.

Designated establishment are required to implement a source separation program for the following materials (if applicable):

• Aluminum
• Corrugated cardboard
• Fine paper
• Newsprint
• High density polyethylene
• Pails
• Crates
• Totes and drums
• Low density polyethylene film
• Polystyrene expanded foam
• Polystyrene trays
• Reels
• Spools
• Steel
• Wood