Canadian Retailer - Winter 2013 - 33

HARMONIZATION

WORKING
TOWARD A MORE
HARMONIZED
APPROACH
Retailers operating in multiple provinces
across the country face numerous challenges
complying with environmental stewardship
regulations that vary from one province to
the next. Instead of waiting for government to
address these challenges, however, retailers
are starting to work together toward a more
harmonized approach.
BY D’ARCY JENISH
EVERYONE WANTS to do what is right for the environment, but provincial governments aren’t making that easy, especially for retailers. Just ask
Dave Bois, director of environment, health and safety for Home Hardware.
The national chain of small to mid-sized hardware stores carries upwards of
100,000 different products. Under provincially mandated stewardship programs—and, there are over 80 of them across the country—the packaging,
and in many cases the products themselves, are supposed to be recycled. But
when product definitions and fees vary from province to province, compliance becomes costly, time-consuming and, sometimes, downright onerous.
“B.C. started its small appliance program in 2012, and that one program
has 12 different categories,” says Bois. “That’s an example of one program.
Every product within that category has to be coded separately and priced so
we can charge the fee visibly, recoup it from the consumer and remit to the
stewardship agency. It’s like that with every program across the country.”
Manitoba’s regulations include seven different categories for plastic packaging while in Ontario the same products fall into just two categories. Some
provinces include marine paint under their regulations, others exclude it.
One province distinguishes between floor model and desktop photocopiers
while the government next door has a different set of categories. However,
product definitions and pricing aren’t the only problems caused by the proliferation of recycling programs.

The paper and reporting trail

“You have to read a lot of government materials because they all
have different programs for electronic products, paper products and
hazardous waste,” says Pete Gibel,
vice-president of merchandising for
Staples Canada Inc. “I usually have
to read between 100 and 300 pages
a week. Ninety per cent of it is of no
value, but you have to read it all to
decide whether it affects your company or not.”
Reporting is another issue. In order to comply with the stewardship
regimes, retailers are required to
compile reports on the sales of different products and the volumes
and weights of different types of
packaging. Furthermore, they are
required to submit such reports—in
some cases monthly and in others
quarterly—to industry-funded and
operated stewardship agencies in
the various provinces.
“The definitions vary from province to province, the fees vary, the
reporting varies and the audits vary,”
says Bob Chant, senior vice-president
of corporate affairs and communications for Loblaws Companies Limited, which happen to be the largest
purveyor of printed paper and packaging in the country. “You can imagine how much we like three differ-

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Canadian Retailer - Winter 2013

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