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Frequently asked questions for ecodesign and recyclability

Ecodesign Guidelines

The best packaging is the one that fulfills its function and meets the needs of the product, while having the lowest environmental impact.

To achieve this, the right amount of material must be used to ensure the proper protection of the product while avoiding overpackaging. It’s a matterof compromise.

Reduction, procurement and recyclability are the three ecodesign strategies on which you should base your choice of the best packaging.

For more information, see our Packaging Ecodesign Guidelines.

Use the Packaging Recyclability Guidelines (PRG) which provide specific guidance for multiple packaging materials.

They highlight design statements that are classified as preferable when they do not raise any issues during sorting, processing and recycling, detrimental if they complicate recyclability or render the packaging non-recyclable.

To learn more, see our Packaging Recyclability Guidelines.

The guidelines enable you to evaluate your packaging independently. They make it easier to identify concrete courses of action to ensure their proper design and recyclability. The guidelines are practical guides to be used when selecting packaging from a supplier, improving existing packaging or designing new packaging.

To find out more, see our Packaging Ecodesign Guidelines and our Packaging Recyclability Guidelines.

As a producer, Éco Entreprises Québec provides you with consulting services to guide you in your packaging and printed paper selection and design process.

Our services can also be adapted to manufacturers, suppliers, packaging distributors or agencies and other players in the producers’ value chain.

In concrete terms, we can: 

  1. Answer your questions about packaging ecodesign and recyclability;

  2. Help you better understand and apply our guides and tools;

  3. Validate and discuss the evaluation of your packaging if you use our Packaging Ecodesign and Recyclability Guidelines.

To find out more, contact us at ecoconception@eeq.ca 

Our services are available to producers who meet the following eligibility criteria:

  • Be subject to the compensation scheme (before 2024) or the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) regulations and registered with ÉEQ;

  • Be compliant: have signed the membership contract, submitted their last report of materials and paid their contribution as well as their Producers’ Financial Participation (PFP) within the prescribed deadlines, when applicable;

  • Not be in a dispute or other precarious situation.

Quebec’s composting infrastructure is designed to process organic materials and not to manage compostable packaging. Since compostable plastic packaging does not necessarily degrade at the same rate as organic materials and does not add value to compost (nutrients), it is removed and sent to landfill.

In addition, the resemblance between recyclable plastics and those identified as compostable confuses people, which leads to sorting errors and contamination problems in the recycling channel.

To learn more, see our Report on Biodegradable and Compostable Plastic Packaging.

Yes, Éco Entreprises Québec set up the Ecodesign Incentive Bonus pilot project in 2021 to support companies engaged in packaging ecodesign.

The ecodesign incentive bonus is based on 10 ecodesign actions divided into four themes (reduction, procurement, recyclability and communication), each associated with a bonus of 20% of the contribution payable for the container or packaging in question.

An additional bonus of 10% may be granted for the completion of a case study.

To learn more, see our Bonus Guide.

Éco Entreprises Québec has instituted a penalty (or malus) – a financial measure aimed at discouraging the choice of materials that do not have a recycling channel, or that disrupt the collection, sorting, processing or recycling of other materials – by imposing a penalty on the payable contribution.

Penalties have therefore been introduced in the 2024 Schedule of contribution for the following materials: polyvinyl chloride (PVC), polylactic acid (PLA) and other degradable plastics.

For more information, see the Malus Guide.

No. Cardboard can be a good choice in some cases, but not in others. This is also true for plastics, whose uses must be thought out according to the protection and conservation needs of the product and the use scenario.

That’s why you first need to know your product well when choosing a packaging material. Next, it is important to assess the life cycle of the packaging-product pairing by including the procurement, manufacturing, distribution, use and end-of-life stages.

To find out more, consult the Ecodesign guide for agency packaging.

Éco Entreprises Québec can advise you on the development of appropriate communications regarding the ecodesign of your packaging, for example, its recyclability using sorting instructions.

The important thing is to choose the relevant information to communicate to consumers, to base this information on facts, to avoid ambiguities and to comply with the laws and standards in force!

For more information, see the Reference Guide for Packaging Ecodesign Communication.

Recyclability Guidelines

Éco Entreprises Québec wanted to address your concerns about recyclability as producers. The PRGs are intended to provide an accessible and useful reference guide for you to assess the recyclability of your packaging to help you make better choices.

This guide will also help you better understand the collection, sorting, processing and recycling processes, as well as the problems that your packaging can pose at each of these stages.

In addition to supporting you in the packaging selection and design process, the objectives of the PRGs are to:

  • Ensure that the packaging materials you market are compatible with the recycling channels that are being developed;
  • Increase the quality and value of recovered materials;
  • Promote the achievement of the recovery and recycling targets set out in the Regulation respecting a system of selective collection for certain residual materials, CQLR c Q-2, r 46.01 (SC Regulation).

The PRGs were developed following an analysis of a multitude of international guides on the recyclability of packaging. Éco Entreprises Québec was accompanied by Lichens, a firm of external consultant specializing in recyclability, with the support of the Association of Plastic Recyclers (APR) in the drafting of the PRGs.

Various experts, such as research centres, sorting centres, packers and recyclers, were also consulted to ensure that the content was adapted to the Quebec and Canadian context.

The proposed definition of recyclability is based on four characteristics: ecodesigned packaging, collected in the recovery bin, sorted at a sorting centre and recycled through an established market.

  1. The way the packaging will be designed is the first factor to consider to increase its potential for recyclability at the end of its life. Reduction, procurement and recyclability are the three ecodesign strategies to consider.
  2. Packaging must then be collected in the recovery bin in order to be diverted from waste. This task is facilitated by information, awareness-raising and education campaigns, sorting instructions on packaging and by residents adopting best sorting practices.
  3. In sorting centres, packaging must be able to be sorted using different technologies in order to produce bales of recovered materials that meet the needs and standards of the industry.
  4. Finally, the recycling of baled materials will depend on processors and recyclers who use state-of-the-art technologies that meet the standards of established markets. In addition, the availability and quality of materials, as well as the demand for recycled content and the price, will guarantee the recycling of the materials.

Having a general understanding of curbside recycling allows you to make more informed choices and prevent potential issues that could be caused by your packaging.

The PRGs illustrate in a simplified and comprehensive way the curbside recycling process and the journey of packaging during the sorting, processing and recycling stages.

The guide also outlines the challenges posed by various packaging characteristics in terms of the actual impact at the different stages of the process.

With Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR), producers are at the heart of the curbside recycling system and have full responsibility for the packaging they place on the market, from design to recycling.

By providing specific guidance for many packaging materials, the PRGs aim to increase the recyclability potential and improve the quality of materials recovered in the curbside recycling system.

Packaging characteristics and material combinations are evaluated to determine their level of impact on curbside recycling.

The PRGs are divided into packaging material types and include design statements that qualify as preferable when they do not raise any issues during sorting, processing and recycling, detrimental if they complicate recyclability or render the packaging non-recyclable.

With curbside recycling being modernized in Quebec, recycling infrastructure will be developed and new recycling channels will be established.

The PRGs will be updated in line with this evolution and with knowledge about packaging materials. Therefore, a precise frequency has not been determined.

At the moment, the guidelines cover packaging of rigid PET, HDPE and PP, flexible PE, paper/cardboard, aluminium, ferrous metals and glass.

These materials were chosen because they make up the vast majority of packaging on the market and also because international guides on recyclability provide a collection of knowledge on the topic.

Some materials, such as PVC, PVDC and PLA (and other degradable plastics), will not be added because their use is discouraged and they are subject to a penalty.

On the other hand, other materials, such as flexible PP, as well as types of packaging such as laminated fibre materials and printed matter, are likely to be added in the future.

For more information, see the Malus Guide

The Recyclability Guidelines are a non-prescriptive guide designed to help you improve the performance of your packaging in the current curbside recycling system.

However, the PRGs cannot be used for marketing or certification purposes, or to declare that a package complies with them.

Developed by the Consumer Goods Forum, the Golden Design Rules for Plastics Packaging have been adapted for Canada by the Canadian Plastic Pact (CPP). The Golden Rules include nine general statements with the objective of reducing the amount of plastic packaging and making it easier to recycle.

The Association of Plastic Recyclers (APR) is a North American organization that aims to improve plastic recycling.

The The APR Design® Guide for Plastics Recycling provides a framework for packaging design and comprehensive testing protocols to measure every aspect of a package’s design against industry-recognized criteria. This more technical approach is aimed at engineers and other packaging specialists.

Éco Entreprises Québec’s Ecodesign and Packaging Recyclability Guidelines are aligned with the Golden Design Rules and are based on the APR Design® Guide. They are intended to increase the adoption of ecodesign, maximize recyclability and meet provincial packaging recovery and recycling targets.

As the first producer responsibility organization (EPR) in North America to publish guidelines, Éco Entreprises Québec has capitalized on its expertise and field experience to create non-prescriptive and comprehensive reference guides.

In addition to plastic, the guidelines also include other packaging materials: paper and cardboard, metals and glass.

Our Packaging Ecodesign Guidelines can help you take into account environmental, social and economic criteria in a comprehensive approach, while maintaining the roles and functions of packaging.

To demystify ecodesign, understand its importance and understand how to incorporate it into your practices, you can consult the ecodesign guidelines. In addition to recyclability, this guide offers two additional strategies, namely reduction and procurement, as well as many examples of possible actions.

Bonus - General questions

Ecodesign is a preventive approach that aims to take into account environemental and social criteria - sustainable procurement, optimized design, end-of-life management and communication - during the design phase of a packaging item, while preserving its practical usage value. For more information, please visit our Ecodesign Portal.

Please check with your purchasing/sourcing, product development, R&D or marketing departments. The person responsible for one of these departments may be able to complete the bonus request form. Please note that the person submitting the bonus request must be registered as first respondent or secondary respondent with Éco Entreprises Québec.

If you are not registered as secondary contact, you may submit the request.

Yes, a company may apply for a post-consumer recycled content credit and request an ecodesign incentive bonus for the same Schedule year. However, if a company submits a request for post-consumer recycled content credit to Éco Entreprises Québec for a container or packaging, it cannot submit a request for the "Integration of recycled content" action under the ecodesign incentive bonus for that same container or packaging.

Both procedures must be completed in parallel according to their individual applicable requirements.

The credit for post-consumer recycled content is for contributing companies that market containers, packaging and printed matter that reach or exceed established thresholds of post-consumer recycled content. That credit worth 20% of the payable contribution is possible for certain materials and has no maximum limit.

The ecodesign incentive bonus is offered to contributing businesses (see eligibility conditions) that have put one or more ecodesigned containers and packaging on the market (see eligible ecodesign actions) in the reference year. The bonus granted will represent up to 50% of the contribution payable for the containers and packaging involved in the ecodesign initiative, up to a maximum amount of $25,000 per application. A company will be able to submit several bonus applications and thus obtain a bonus up to a maximum of $60,000.

Yes, any contributing company that complies with Éco Entreprises Québec can apply for the ecodesign incentive bonus, provided that it meets all eligibility requirements. The initiative must be documented according to the defined process.

Yes, as part of the pilot project, several initiatives carried out during the reference year are eligible for the same company, up to a cumulative bonus of $60,000.

It is not possible to exceed this amount for a single application since the maximum limit of the ecodesign incentive bonus is set at $25,000 per application. However, a company can submit multiple applications and obtain a maximum cumulative bonus of $60,000.

Bonus - Eligibility Questions

Yes, companies that are qualified as low-volume producers are eligible to receive the ecodesign incentive bonus, provided that they have submitted detailed reports of their materials. Companies that opt for the simplified report (fixed rate fee structure) are not eligible to receive the ecodesign incentive bonus.

No, the ecodesign incentive bonus is for the current SoC. Your company container or packaging will be eligible the year following the first entry to market.

No, companies that meet one of the three exemption criteria for the payment of the contribution to the Schedule are not eligible to apply for the ecodesign incentive bonus.

No, the ecodesign incentive bonus pilot project is available only for container and packaging ecodesign approaches. Note that printed matter is, however, eligible for the post-consumer recycled content credit, if it meets the identified thresholds.

No, only containers and packaging targeted and rated under the curbside recycling compensation plan are eligible for the design incentive bonus.

To be eligible, projects must have been put on the market in the reference year of the SoC.

The reference year used for the bonus request must be the reference year the ecodesigned container or packaging is out on the market. Thus, in the case of ecodesigned packaging marketed in 2023, the total quantities of packaging marketed during the calendar year 2023 must be entered when requesting the bonus.

These quantities of containers or packaging must obviously be included in the company's declaration to Éco Entreprises Québec under the 2024 SoC.

Yes, new packaging design projects are eligible to request the bonus. However, they are not eligible for the full range of ecodesign actions. Please consult the Ecodesign incentive bonus guide for all the details.

No, under the pilot project, ecodesigned containers and packaging can only be recognized during a single SoC. However, a company could reapply for a bonus if additionnal ecodesign actions were done, or if the level of performance (e.g. mass reduction) was improved.

Bonus - Methodology / Process Questions

Yes, an application that is deemed eligible will receive a minimum bonus amount of $5,000, or capped at the company's total contribution if less than $5,000. The final bonus amount awarded will be determined by Éco Entreprises Québec when evaluating the application. Éco Entreprises Québec reserves the right to request additional supporting documentation as needed and to review or reject any bonus request if the company refuses to cooperate.

The bonus application form allows to apply for a container or packaging or for a range of containers or packaging that meet the same ecodesign requirements. A separate request must be submitted for each container or packaging ecodesign approach subject to a bonus request or range of containers or packaging responding to different ecodesign actions.

The bonus application requests are evaluated by ecodesign experts and compliance and verification analysts at Éco Entreprises Québec.

The determination of eligible ecodesign actions is the result of a rigorous process of evaluation of best practices and international ecodesign research.

The time you should spend will depend on the number of projects submitted. The application approach and form have been simplified to reduce the time spent preparing an application. It is strongly recommended that you prepare supporting documents for the ecodesign actions in question in case they are requested by Éco Entreprises Québec during the evaluation of the project. We are available to answer your questions and provide support to facilitate your initiative.