Eco Fees

Eco Fee Brochures for Retailers

Stewardship Ontario worked with the Retail Council of Canada to develop an FAQ brochure with accompanying sample fee schedule for retailers to provide to their front line or customer service staff and customers.

View the brochures here.

Are retailers allowed to charge an eco fee? Weren’t all eco fees cancelled?

Retailers may charge you eco fees on any of the following materials as part of the Household Hazardous Waste Program:

  • Paints and coatings, plus their containers
  • Solvents, such as thinners for paint, lacquer and contact cement, paint strippers and degreasers, and their containers
  • Oil filters
  • Oil containers of 30 litres or less
  • Single-use batteries
  • Antifreeze and its containers
  • Pressurized containers, such as propane tanks and cylinders, oxygen and helium tanks
  • Lawn fertilizers that contain pesticides
  • Pesticides, and their containers

Eco fees were eliminated on the following materials, and therefore retailers may not charge eco fees on these products – fluorescent tubes and bulbs, fire extinguishers, mercury-containing devices, rechargeable batteries, pharmaceuticals, sharps, flammables, toxics, and corrosives.

What about the eco fee I was charged on tires or a new TV?

Eco fees are still applicable to these items. Ontario Electronic Stewardship sets the fees for electrical and electronic equipment, while Ontario Tire Stewardship levies fees on tires.

What does the eco fee cover?

Household hazardous waste materials require special handling at the end of their useful lives. Eco fees are an option that manufacturers and retailers have to recover the cost of managing the collection, transportation, recycling or safe disposal of these materials and their containers.

Do all retailers charge eco fees?

Stewardship Ontario does not tell the companies that are obligated to remit fees on the designated products how to manage these costs. It is up to the individual companies and their supply chain partners, including retailers, to make the best decisions for their businesses. Some companies will internalize the cost, while others may charge consumers an eco fee at the point-of-purchase.

How do I know if I was charged the correct amount?

Consumer fees (also known as eco fees) charged at point of sale by retailers should not exceed the amount Stewardship Ontario collects from product manufacturers and first importers. Guidelines on the maximum consumer fees that can be passed through to a shopper, charged on the products listed above can be found here.

If you have additional questions, please contact Stewardship Ontario at 1-888-288-3360 or werecycleatstewardshipontario [dot] ca

You may also call the government’s consumer-protection hotline at 1-800-889-9768 or TTY: 416-229-6086 or 1-877-666-6545.

How do consumers receive a full refund on any fees charged where they return a program-related product ?

Stewardship Ontario has no authority or influence over how retailers manage consumer refunds in their business processes and policies. Our assumption is that retailers deal with refunding eco fees to consumers in the same manner as they do with any product refund where additional charges besides the product price are also refunded. Any consumer related complaints with respect to retailer refunds should be directed to the consumer-protection hotline (1-800-889-9768 or TTY: 416-229-6086 or 1-877-666-6545).