Under the MHSW Program, municipalities can enter into a voluntary agreement (see Shared Responsibility Agreement below) with Stewardship Ontario that provides for the transportation, processing and management of the Phase 1 MHSW materials that they collect.
Shared Responsiblity Agreement
As a supplement to the Shared Responsiblity Agreement, Stewardship Ontario has published Municipal MHSW Standards for participating in the MHSW program.
MHSW Reimbursement & Reporting Requirements
Stewardship Ontario will reimburse municipalities for services that contribute to the 3Rs such as programs that lead to the reuse of Phase 1 materials. As well, municipalities will be reimbursed for agreed-upon promotion and education activities.
Please note that reimbursement is contingent upon reporting information on MHSW collection activities on a quarterly basis to WDO's MHSW Reporting System.
In June 2009, WDO's Municipal Industry Program Committee (MIPC) for the MHSW Program Plan recommended the implementation of a late submission policy for the MHSW Report. The late submission policy (see June 2 WDO Letter re: Policy for Late Submission of Municipal MHSW Reports) was approved by the WDO Board on May 27, 2009 and will take effect as of July 1, 2009 for the Q3 2009 MHSW Report 1.
Resources for Municipalities
IC&I Generators
As well as diverting hazardous and special wastes from residents, the MHSW program also targets small quantities of MHSW from the industrial, commercial and institutional (IC&I) sector. It is important to note that partipcation in the program is restricted to those companies that do not meet the generator registration requirements of Regulation 347.
Stewardship Ontario is working with the Ministry of the Environment to best determine the most practical approach in managing small quantity waste from IC&I businesses.
Value-Added Services
Value-added services address one or both of two functions: To lower the net cost of managing MHSW materials collected and/or to move further up on the 3Rs (reduce, reuse, recycle) hierarchy.
There are two main types of value-added services:
- Bulking of materials on site - This is accomplished by placing material from partially filled containers of MHSW into larger containers, thus reducing the number of containers that need to be shipped. It is commonly done for antifreeze and for paints.
- Reusing Materials – This is accomplished by either reusing the materials on site, or offering the recovered materials to others for free or at a nominal cost. It is commonly done for paints either partially full or full, and for other materials that are in their original, unopened packages.
Stewardship Ontario, with the WDO's MIPC-MHSW committee, is currently looking at some of the challenges related to reuse and bulking, considering options and developing criteria.
Here’s one of the challenges. Bulking is often done for paints because it reduces the volume of material shipped, thus reducing transportation costs. However, placing different types and colours of paints into one container, can lead to huge quantities of mid-grey coloured paint. This can restrict the opportunity to market the paint requiring much of it to be disposed, unless only similar types and colours of paints are bulked together.
If you would like to share your thoughts about the value-added services, please send them to the MIPC-MHSW committee.
Contact:
MHSW Service Provider Support
1-888-288-3360 (press 4 to bypass the menu options)
MTS-administration@stewardshipontario.ca
