Ontario's New Eco Fee

Like most people living in Ontario I knew nothing in advance about the new fee being imposed on consumers who choose to purchase products that fall under the province’s household hazardous and special waste category (prescriptions, paint, batteries, etc). Heck, I didn’t even know what Stewardship Ontario was until I opened one of the Toronto newspapers recently and read about the public’s latest grumblings.

Stewardship Ontario
These folks are funded by the Government to develop and manage the Province’s recycling program and they act as middleperson between Government, business and the public.

The Eco-Fee
Actually, it is not that new, despite the recent grumbling. But it has been expanded to address a new service that allows twenty-two hazardous wastes to bypass the landfill and be processed properly. Stewardship Ontario charges their ‘stewards’ (the brand owners of products that fall under the hazardous waste category) to properly process the waste. The stewards may choose to pass on the charge to retailers who sell the product. The retailers may choose to add this charge onto the customer’s bill as a separate fee. Of course, the brand owner may embed the charges in the cost of the product. But when the former takes place, the customer sees the fee on his/her bill and believes a new tax is being charged and thus becomes indignant.

Transparency or Ignorance
It is a tough call. North Americans have adopted the notion of the illusion of transparency like nowhere else on earth. Transparency, ideally, and not limited to Government doings, is the idea that consumers or users can find out exactly where their money is going. In the case of Government, we want to know what the heck they are doing and are planning to do with the insane amount of tax dollars that are collected. And in Canada, we pretend that transparency exists. Mission statements, action plans, balance sheets, etc. In other countries, where basic freedoms exist such that questions can be asked of rulers without being thrown in prison, many taxes are just embedded in products and services and everyone seems happy to stay ignorant.

To Tax or Not To Tax
Lots of opinions on this. Myself, as an eco-anarcho-libertarian type of creature, I disagree with taxation and bureaucracy as a rule. But unlike many libertarians and the like who seem to think that humans can and should do as much damage to this planet as possible and all in the name of ‘personal freedom’, I am not opposed to charging fees to people who use or deal with things that harm other people or nature. So if you want to smoke, then you should pay more for your polluting, your extra health care needs, and your effect on the health of people who breathe in your pollution. Likewise, if you use toxic chemicals that, once disposed of, get into ground water, destroy ecosystems, and affect people and nature in untold ways, then you should pay more to deal with correct disposal.

Is the Eco-Fee a Tax?
Good question. The simple answer is ‘no’. The eco-fee isn’t a true tax in the way that sales tax is. The money doesn’t go to government (at any level), thank goodness. It is still a tax, however. Luckily, you can opt out of paying it by not using toxic products that require special disposal ;)