Alberta’s EPR Engagement Webinar Series

The RCA plans to host a series of webinars throughout Alberta Environment and Park’s six-week EPR engagement process to provide organizations opportunities to ask leading experts questions on EPR and its implementation, as well as advance discussion on the topic. Webinars will be held on March 30, April 13 and April 20 at 10:00 a.m. Mountain Time.

March 30 – Alberta’s EPR Engagement and Discussion Paper

Over 100 participants joined the Recycling Council of Alberta on Tuesday, March 30 at 10:00 a.m. for a webinar on Alberta’s EPR engagement and discussion paper. Heather von Hauff, the Executive Director of Water and Waste Policy with Alberta Environment and Parks provided an update on the engagement strategy announced on March 17 and answer questions about the discussion paper. Other EPR experts, including the RCA’s president, Jodi Tomchyshyn London, Kelsey Morden from the Retail Council of Canada as well as Alda Nicmans from the BC Product Stewardship Council were available to answer general EPR questions that arose.

Download the slide deck here

Speaker Bios

Heather von Hauff is the Executive Director of Water and Waste Policy in Alberta Environment and Parks. Heather has an MSC in hydrogeology from the University of Alberta. Heather’s career in the Government of Alberta began in Alberta Environment as a Regional Hydrogeologist in 2003. Since that time, she also worked in Alberta Energy and Executive Council before returning to the department. Over the course of her career, Heather has worked on a broad range of issues, including: air, biodiversity, land, conservation, water, waste, energy resources, regulatory system design, and economic initiatives. Heather lives in Edmonton with her husband, young daughter and two dogs.

Alda Nicmans is the Executive Director of the BC Product Stewardship Council, a coalition of BC regional districts that are responsible for solid waste management and waste reduction, recycling and re-use in their jurisdictions. One of the primary objectives of the Council is to provide a forum for ongoing dialogue between local governments and stewardship agencies on program operations and other related issues.

Since 1985, Alda has developed extensive experience designing and implementing progressive zero waste management systems in British Columbia, Alberta and Ontario. Alda has served in executive positions for SWANA Pacific Chapter, two stewardship organizations: The Electronics Stewardship Association of BC; and The Tree Marking Paint Stewardship Association, gaining insight and understanding into the future of extended producer responsibility programs in Canada. She has also served on the Board of both the Recycling Council of BC and Ontario.

Kelsey Morden is the Manager, Sustainability Programs at Retail Council of Canada (RCC). RCC is a not-for-profit industry-funded association that represents small, medium and large retail businesses in every community across the country.

Kelsey supports members with environmental compliance, best practice sharing, and advocacy when it comes to extended producer responsibility regulations and programs. Recently, her work has been focused on the Ontario EPR regulations for printed paper and packaging, electrical and electronic equipment, batteries, and hazardous and special products.  

Prior to her time at RCC, Kelsey gained experience with government and environmental organizations on a range of environmental files including single-use plastics, energy and source water protection. Kelsey holds a Master of Environmental Studies from York University and a Bachelor of Science (Biology & Political Science) from the University of British Columbia.

Jodi Tomchyshyn London has more than 15 years’ experience working in the fields of waste minimization and recycling policy and has been a member of the RCA (through her work or via individual membership) since 2003.

Jodi co-owns and has operated JTL Squared Consulting Inc since 2016. Her work mainly focusses on encouraging and advancing best practices and policies related to waste minimization and recycling. Before venturing out on her own, Jodi held senior positions with Waste Diversion Ontario, where she was their Manager of Policy & Planning, and the governments of Ontario and Alberta where she acted as a senior policy advisor. During her time with the Alberta government, Jodi was also seconded to New Zealand’s Ministry for the Environment as a senior waste policy advisor.

Jodi holds the degrees of Master of Environmental Design (Environmental Science) from the University of Calgary, and Bachelor of Science (Environmental Biology) from the University of Alberta.

April 13 – EPR: Impacts and Opportunities for Alberta Municipalities

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How will EPR impact municipalities?

As most residents’ point of contact for recycling services in Alberta’s current collection system, municipalities bring operational experience that can be of value to producers and Producer Responsibility Organizations (PROs) as they meet their requirements through EPR.  In BC’s EPR policy, local governments have three options to manage packaging and paper products:

  1. Decline involvement in the program and continue to provide collection service and manage collected materials.
  2. Enter into an agreement with the program to provide collection service with the program managing collected materials.
  3. Elect to have the program directly manage all aspects of the recycling service.

Join the webinar as we discuss EPR implementation in BC and its impacts on municipalities and possible scenarios in Alberta. Alberta Environment and Parks will also be providing relevant municipal background on their EPR engagement process.

We are pleased to present a range of BC municipalities who have experienced the transition to EPR from a municipal perspective, including Metro Vancouver, who will bring the perspective of its members, including the City of Vancouver, who turned operation of its residential recycling program over to producers.  Also represented will be more rural regions, including the Columbia Shuswap Regional District (CSRD), that operates the largest Recycle BC depot program in the Province for packaging and printed paper (PPP), as well as the Regional District of Okanagan-Similkameen (RDOS), who also work extensively with EPR programs.

We are thrilled to have Councillor Peter Demong as our moderator for this webinar. Peter holds positions on the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association’s Executive Committee, Sustainability and Environment Committee, and the Plastics Alliance of Alberta. In addition to his tenure on City of Calgary City Council, Peter is recognized as one of Alberta’s strongest EPR supporters.

Speaker Bios

As the elected representative for Ward 14, Peter Demong brings 18 years of experience as a business owner, and 25 years of experience in the field of Logistics Management to Calgary City Council. Since his first term began in 2010, Peter has become experienced with almost every aspect of municipal management. He has spent time on the Standing Policy Committee on Urban Planning, the Calgary Economic Development Board, and the Enmax Board of Directors—to name a few. He also holds the Institute of Corporate Directors Director Designation. It was his involvement as the Chair of the Standing Policy Committee on Utilities and Corporate Services however, that first sparked his passion for effective municipal waste management. His positions on the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association’s Executive Committee, Sustainability and Environment Committee, and Plastics Alliance of Alberta make him a natural fit as one of Alberta’s strongest Extended Producer Responsibility supporters.

Andrew Doi is an Environmental Planner at Metro Vancouver, who specializes in Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) programs and policy. Andrew holds a Master’s degree in Resource and Environmental Management from Simon Fraser University and is a Registered Professional Planner. Andrew began working at Metro Vancouver in 2001, and he has been focusing on EPR programs for over a decade.

Ben Van Nostrand is a Professional Agrologist, with a technical Diploma in Water Quality Technology and a Bachelor of Science in Environmental Planning.  After spending 14 years with the Ministry of Environment working on waste management issues in Northern BC and contributing to policy work in Victoria, he transitioned to the challenges of local government in 2010.  As the Environmental Health Services Team Leader at the Columbia Shuswap Regional District, Ben is responsible for solid waste, recycling and environmental programming.  Ben is an avid fly fisherman, plays goal in a men’s hockey league and has 3 boys aged 12, 10 and 6 that make life busy.

Raised in the Okanagan, Cameron Baughen is an advocate for the environmental and financial benefits of solid waste management in his community. He has been working with the RDOS Solid Waste group in Penticton, BC for over 16 years. He has been project lead on major solid waste projects including the Regional organics feasibility study, featured by FCM as an example of municipal environmental leadership, and the RDOS Solid Waste Management Plan. Cameron is a Board Member with the Recycling Council of BC and a member of SWANA, the Southern Interior Waste Management Association and the BC Product Stewardship Council.

April 20 – Exploring EPR Impacts on Waste and Recycling Service Providers

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What will be the effect of EPR on industry service providers who currently operate within the recycling industry as collectors, processors and recyclers?

Next Tuesday’s webinar will spotlight service providers who collect and manage products and packaging for waste management and recycling, bringing operational experience of value to producers. These companies may provide services directly to producers or Producer Responsibility Organizations (PROs), or to municipalities who act as contractors to producers or PROs.

We will discuss the changes in the service providers’ role that comes with province-wide EPR implementation (including examples from BC and Ontario). Presenters include Al Matauro from Cascades, Tony Moucachen from Merlin Plastics, and Peter Hargreave with Policy Integrity Inc.

Albino Metauro, Strategic Advisor, Material Recovery, at Cascades Canada ULC

Over the past 42 years Al has enjoyed playing a contributing role in the dynamic and constantly changing recovery and recycling industry. Having experienced the industry from a small startup company to becoming one of Canada’s largest fibre recovery operations, Al has witnessed firsthand the challenges and transitions that relate to managing discarded materials.

For the past 26 years Al has had the privilege of having Cascades Canada ULC, a major paper and packaging producer, as a partner. Cascades is also a major consumer of recovered fibre. The relationship with Cascades gave Al a unique perspective on how a circular economy can work and the challenges hindering its advancement. As a partner, Al has focused on developing and operating recovery operations that recover a wide range of materials dominated by paper fibre consumed internally by Cascades’ mills.

As one of his accomplishments, Al lead a group of Canadian recyclers to join together and respond to an RFP in British Columbia that resulted in giving the new formed group, Green by Nature EPR (GBN) a contract that managed the entire post collection system for the Province. As the CEO of GBN, Al was responsible for the continued development of this new venture with a focus on addressing the needs of the Producers as they take on a more pronounced role in managing their printed paper and packaging.

Today Al is assisting Cascades’ Recovery+ division with transitioning its senior management team to take on leadership of the day to day functions and providing guidance on strategy related to meeting the company’s secondary fibre needs and circular objectives.

Tony Moucachen is one of the founders and President of Merlin Plastics. He considers himself an environmentalist and is passionate about recycling. He feels that he has been blessed to have a career that is consistent with his personal environmental values. For the past 25 years, Merlin Plastics has planned, developed, and refined the re-processing of PE, PP and PET starting in British Columbia in a 2000 square foot warehouse, and have now grown to over one million square feet of plant operations with sister plants located in Alberta, California and Oregon. Merlin Plastics received the 2001 Outstanding Contribution to Recycling award by the Recycling Council of Alberta.

Peter Hargreave is a proud member of the Recycling Council of Alberta and the President of Policy Integrity Inc. He has over 16 years’ experience in providing strategic advice in the development, implementation, and oversight of public policy. Over his professional career, he has developed a strong network of relationships with regulators, public and private organizations, and other key stakeholders involved in environmental issues across Canada, the United States and abroad. He has extensive experience in assessing waste management policies at the federal, provincial, and municipal level across the country. He has also played a key role in leading major research efforts in the waste management sector including data capture & analysis and understanding the economic and environmental impacts of various waste management activities.


April 26 (RCA Members only) – RCA EPR Discussion Paper Response Q&A

The RCA will host a Q&A webinar at 10:00 a.m. on Monday, April 26 to answer any questions RCA members have about the RCA’s EPR discussion paper response in preparation for your own submission or further understanding about the future of EPR in Alberta. To view the response visit https://recycle.ab.ca/rca-response-to-epr-discussion-paper/. This is a free member-only opportunity. To register, please send an email to info@recycle.ab.ca.

Registration:

A portion of the cost of the webinars goes directly to supporting the sustainability of the RCA and our goal to advance a circular economy in Alberta. Due to COVID-19 we were unable to host our largest revenue generating, and most popular event – our annual conference – in 2020. We look to continue to advance education and engagement opportunities online until we can meet again.

Per webinar – $75/person RCA members*; $99/person non-members

Please note that registration is for individuals, not groups, and each person attending the webinar/s must register separately.

Alberta’s EPR Engagement Webinar series (3 webinars) – $199/person RCA members*; $275/person non-members
You can sign up for the entire series any time, we will provide a link to the recording of any session that was already held.

*Every employee of an RCA member company qualifies for the member rate. To find out whether your company is a current RCA member, check whether it is listed on our A-Z membership directory list here or contact us at info@recycle.ab.ca. For more information on how to sign up for an RCA membership, click here.

Students & Grassroots

A limited number of free grassroots and student registrations are available. For further information, please contact our office.

Register today!

Please provide names and contact information for each delegate.
Please note that registration is for individuals, not groups, and each person attending the webinar/s must register separately.

How to register: Click the “Select Options” button next to the registration type you’d like to purchase, and enter the delegate name and contact info in the form that appears, then click the “Add to Cart” button. If you want to register more than one person, you can enter their contact details into the same form and click “Add to Cart” again. You now have two registrations in your cart. Once you have entered the registration details for everyone, go to your cart, review, and select “Checkout”. You can now enter your billing information and select a payment option to finalize your registration(s). If you have any questions about the registration process, please contact info@recycle.ab.ca

Select Member or Non-Member Registration, then specify your webinar choices. Prices will adjust according to your selections.

To register for the April 26 Q&A session (RCA members only), please send an email to info@recycle.ab.ca.