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2021 Annual General Assembly and Bac-à-Bac event : Modernization of curbside recycling – An essential (r)evolution

This April 29th, Éco Entreprises Québec (ÉEQ) held their Annual General Assembly (AGA), during which 100 representatives from 80 companies participated in discovering the highlights from a year of major upheavals, but also great achievements. 

Denis Brisebois, Chair of the Board at ÉEQ, and Maryse Vermette, President and CEO at ÉEQ, revisited the long-awaited announcement regarding the modernization of curbside recycling, the large-scale project that kept the ÉEQ team quite busy this past year. They also went over 2020’s main projects as well as the effects of the health crisis – which impacted, and continues to impact, companies across Quebec. 

In addition to the modernization of curbside recycling, many other important measures took place in 2020: 

  • The adoption of a governance structure during the diagnosis and EPR-curbside recycling transition period 
  • The launch of the new bilingual Packaging Ecodesign Portal 
  • The development of the fee schedule ecomodulation roadmap 
  • The adoption of positioning regarding the modernization of curbside recycling and Bill 65 brief 
  • The adoption of a new 2021-2024 organizational model as part of the curbside recycling modernization transition period 
  • The implementation of the Ecodesign and Circular Economy Plan and the Plastics Action Plan 

2021 Outlooks 

The organization’s outlooks and main orientations for 2021, which is already well under way, were also presented, including: 

  • The launch of the Report on biodegradable and compostable plastic packaging in Quebec (April 2021) and hosting of a webinar for companies  
  • The governance reform of ÉEQ in a modernization of curbside recycling perspective 
  • The appointment of ÉEQ as the designated stewardship organization for the transition period 
  • The adoption of positioning on the contents of the draft regulation to implement Bill 65 
  • The implementation of the Schedule of contributions ecomodulation roadmap, including the ecodesign incentive bonus and subsequent support for companies 
  • The improvement of the Company Services tools as well as key control and compliance processes for reporting, including the implementation of a new integrated management software (ERP and CRM)  

2021-2024 Strategic Plan 

This was also an opportunity to introduce the organization’s 2021-2024 strategic plan, which covers the transition period towards extended producer responsibility (EPR) and whose orientations and goals are closely aligned with ÉEQ’s upcoming role. Our vision for 2024: 

ÉEQ exercises its leadership in its role of designated stewardship organization and is ready, along with the value chain in its entirety, to undertake the management of the curbside recycling stream in a perspective of circular economy with containers, packaging and printed matter. 

Finally, the election by acclamation of seven Board members took place during the AGA. The mandate of five members was renewed for the period 2021-2023, while two new directors were elected, namely Mr. Bernard Grandmont, consulting partner at Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton, as non-member director and Mr. Stéphane Forget, senior vice president, public affairs, cooperation and corporate responsibility, at Sollio Cooperative Group, as a member director. 

ÉEQ’s 2020 annual report was also submitted and presented this year in a new, magazine-type format. 

 

Bac-à-Bac, for a transformed curbside recycling 

ÉEQ’s AGA was preceded by the Bac-à-Bac event, which welcomed nearly 200 participants. 

Joined by a panel of experts to talk about ecodesign, curbside recycling and market development, the event aimed to shed light on the curbside recycling’s synergies, which contribute to developing the circular economy of our containers, packaging and printed matter. 

Marie Julie Bégin, vice president of the Transition Bureau for the modernization of Curbside Recycling, discussed with a few of the series’ hosts, including Bac-à-Bac’s host, Rose-Aimée Automne T. Morin, Évelyne Lord-Blais, responsible sourcing and strategic project specialist at Agropur, Jean-Sébastien Daigle, president and CEO of Société VIA and Charles David Mathieu-Poulin, senior advisor – circular economy at TC Transcontinental. 

The discussion was interspersed with clips from the Bac-à-Bac miniseries, giving a voice to key players in the recovery and recycling industry’s value chain by bringing attention to everyone’s role in implementing our recyclable materials’ circular economy. 

We’re once again noticing that there is a clear solution to establishing this circular economy: we need to recycle HERE, the materials recovered HERE, to reintroduce them into the economy from HERE! 

ÉEQ will for that matter hold a webinar in June for companies and associations to discuss how the project on modernizing curbside recycling has evolved and what the next steps are.