We were commissioned by the Continuous Improvement Fund (CIF), alongside Geoff Rathbone Environmental, to provide a clearer picture of litter quantity, composition, costs, and management approaches across Ontario’s 400+ municipalities.
Under Ontario’s Resource Recovery and Circular Economy Act (2016), producers are accountable and financially responsible for the collection and management of their end-of-life products and packaging. The Blue Box Regulation (O. Reg 391/21) extends this to packaging, paper, and packaging-like products, setting out the timeline for municipalities to transition by the end of 2025. While the Blue Box Program covers collection from residential and select institutional and facility sources, producers are not yet required to manage materials littered on the ground.
Our report draws on CIF-collated litter studies, desktop research, and municipal surveys, as well as a model developed by the project team to estimate litter composition, generation, and management costs across Ontario. The analysis focused on two categories: ‘ground litter’ and ‘public space bin litter’.
We found that Ontario generates an estimated 114,500 tonnes of litter annually with 83% from public space bins and 17% from ground litter. Blue Box materials account for 28% of the total.
Our analysis also revealed the estimated annual cost for managing this litter to be $124 million – most of which is concentrated in ‘large’ and ‘medium and small’ urban municipalities. Public space bin litter accounts for 71% of the overall cost, while only 29% is from ground litter. However, ground litter is nearly two times more expensive per tonne. Meanwhile, 45% of costs are devoted to Blue Box litter.
The report also summarises approaches to litter reduction and clean up in Ontario and internationally across seven key areas:
- Source reduction of commonly littered items
- Education and media campaigns
- Appropriate litter collection and clean-up infrastructure
- Enforcement of littering by-laws
- Regular measurement of litter quantity and composition
- Support for federal and provincial anti-litter policies
- Private sector engagement in anti-litter efforts
This research provides a basis for a more coordinated effort across provincial and federal governments to standardise how litter is measured and how costs are tracked.
