Retailers - Reporting Guide

1. List all products sold during the reference year covered by your report.
2. Determine who is responsible for each product. Your report must include all containers, packaging, and printed paper used for your private brands and those for which you are the first supplier in Quebec.
3. Identify the components of each product you are responsible for reporting. For example, for a bottle of water sold in single units, you would report:
   • The weight of the bottle, including the label
   • The cap
4. If applicable, report all containers, short-life packaging, and printed paper sold as products:
   • Aluminum pie plates
   • Snack, sandwich, and freezer bags
   • Cardboard, plastic, polystyrene (or Styrofoam) plates, and glasses
   • Etc.
5. Include all secondary and tertiary packaging that ultimately ends up with the consumer, such as the plastic wrap around a multipack of water bottles and its tray.
6. Include the materials added at point of sale:
   • Cash register receipts or invoices
   • Meat trays
   • Etc.
7. Include all marketing-related printed paper:
   • Circulars;
   • Inserts;
   • Catalogs;
   • Promotional booklets;
   • etc.
8. List all containers, packaging, and printed paper used for online orders:
   • Shipping boxes
   • Protective envelopes
   • Etc.
9. List product giveaways gifted at special or promotional events.
10. Indicate the data sources used to prepare your reports, e.g., real unit weight determined manually or provided by the manufacturer, supplier, or printer.

Some materials do not have to be reported, and others can be deducted from your contributions:

• Packaging for shipping not meant for the consumer
• Containers, packaging, and printed paper recovered on home delivery
• Returned merchandise that is part of a recall, has expired, or is damaged and cannot be sold to a consumer or is not distributed
• All containers, packaging, and printed paper used or recovered internally, that is not sold or distributed
• Containers and packaging for industrial, commercial, or institutional end users (changes coming in 2025)
• All returnable containers (e.g., soft drinks). Please note the following:
  • All containers or packaging accompanying these products must be reported (for example, a cardboard box that contains returnable bottles)
  • Containers and packaging included in the producer financial participation will soon become part of the expanded deposit and return system. Until the expanded deposit and return system is fully operational, containers and packaging covered by the expansion must be reported separately in the reporting portal. A list of these materials is available in our materials guide.

Examples

• Calculation errors
• Conversion errors (litres, kilograms, pounds, etc.)
• Errors when calculating the number of units in bundled packaging
• Forgetting to include subtotals in a total, or including them twice
• Data entered incorrectly, with too many or too few numbers, or with the decimal point in the wrong place

Tips

• Have your data validated by an external third party, by the internal audit team, or by someone other than the reporting individual.
• Protect the cells containing formulas in your Excel calculation file.
• Filter by similar products to detect any weight differences. This will help you spot inadvertent errors, such as a decimal point or comma where there shouldn’t be one.
• Update the weights of your containers, packaging, and printed paper every three or four years.
• Be extra careful with multipacks – they are a frequent source of errors in calculation files. For example, if you sell consumers a case of 24 water bottles grouped in a cardboard box, the report must include not only the box, but also 24 times the weight of a single plastic bottle. Errors are even more common in cases of grouped multipacks. For example, if a case contains four 6-packs of bottles wrapped in plastic film, the report must include one cardboard box (if intended for consumers), four overwraps, and 24 bottles.

Examples and additional information

Retailers’ reports must include all supplies added at the point of sale, such as shopping bags and cash register receipts.

For businesses operating under a franchise, chain, banner, or other similar form of affiliation or grouping of businesses or establishments, responsibility lies with the franchisor or group owner.

Tips

• Consult the report on the quantities of containers or rolls purchased, their weight, and the corresponding materials, which is often provided by your suppliers.
• If you are still unsure, confirm the type of materials with your suppliers.
• Deduct any supplies not intended for consumers, such as expired products.

Examples

• Deductions for packaging that will not be left at consumers’ residences
• Undocumented deductions that aren’t backed by quantitative data

Tips

• Obtain quantitative, verifiable data to support your deductions (sales reports, third-party studies, etc.). This data must be available on request for verification purposes.
• Ensure that deductions for all eligible materials are allowed under the rules and that you have sufficient supporting documentation to back them up.

To develop your methodology and obtain data to calculate a deduction, contact Éco Entreprises Québec; we can validate your infomation before you invest your resources.

Additional information

Companies must report all containers, packaging, and printed paper associated with products for which they are the brand owner or first supplier in Quebec.

The first supplier is the first to take title, possession, or control of printed paper or a product whose container or packaging is covered under the program.

If a company distributes products sold under a brand owned by another company with a store in Quebec, they are not considered the first supplier.

Tips

• List all your suppliers.
• Remove all suppliers with a Quebec address from this list.
• If in doubt, check the company’s status on the Registraire des entreprises du Québec or contact Producer Services at Éco Entreprises Québec.

Additional information

For reporting purposes, every detachable component of your packaging must be reported separately and classified by its material.

The number of units may vary for each component of a given package.

Tips

• Consult our materials guide.
• Ask your materials suppliers, who usually know the type of materials you use.
• If you are unsure, confirm the type of material with Éco Entreprises Québec Producer Services.
• Classify your materials using our tools, and consult the experts at Éco Entreprises Québec for complex cases.

Examples and additional information

Companies must report all advertising materials that are intended for consumers and bear their logo or distinctive guise, whether or not they printed the materials (e.g., distribution by Publisac or by mail).

Print ads placed in newpapers or magazines do not need to be reported. They are the publisher's responsibility.

Tips

• Confirm the type of paper and quantities purchased from your printers.
• If you are unsure, contact Éco Entreprises Québec Producer Services.
• Deduct advertising materials that are kept and displayed in your establishments.
• Do not report business-to-business advertising materials.
• Deduct coupons that were taken back by stores or returned by consumers.

Additional information

When a Quebec consumer places an order online, you must report the product’s containers, packaging, and printed paper, as well as all shipping materials (if not part of the product itself).

This means that you have to report the cardboard boxes and shipping envelopes you mail out to the consumer.

Tips

• Obtain data on consumer sales through your e-commerce platform.
• Weigh your typical shipping packages to determine the quantities generated based on the quantities used.

Additional information

When you sell a container covered by other regulations, you must still report the product’s secondary packaging where applicable, as these are not usually covered by the other regulations.

Tips

• Returnable containers: Secondary packaging used for returnable containers must be reported, e.g., plastic six-pack rings used for beer or soft-drink packs.
• Paints, oils, and antifreeze: Secondary containers must be reported, e.g., cardboard boxes used to transport multiple containers.
• Compact fluorescent bulbs, batteries, and electronics: Product containers and packaging must be reported.

Examples and additional information

Retailers may incur losses on products packaged on site, such as meat, fruit, vegetables, and bakery products past the “best before” date. Because these products are unfit for sale in their packaging, they can be excluded from the report.

Some retailers also use packaging supplies in-house, such as plastic film used to cover merchandise when closing the store at the end of the day. These supplies, which are not passed on to consumers, must also be excluded from the report.

Tips

• If you establish the quantities of packaging added to your purchases at your points of sale, you can deduct packaging that is not passed on to consumers:
  • Expired products
  • Packaging used internally
• Where applicable, use departmental loss reports to establish the proportion of packaging that is not passed on to consumers.
• Properly identify packaging that is used exclusively in-house and exclude it from your calculations.