The federal government has now launched the reporting platform for Canada’s Federal Plastics Registry. With the first reporting deadline looming on September 29, 2025 for the 2024 calendar year, obligated parties can now access the form of report and begin inputting their reportable data.

This bulletin provides an overview of the Federal Plastics Registry and reporting requirements for this first phase of reporting.

What is the Federal Plastics Registry?

On April 20, 2024, the Government of Canada published the final notice for the establishment of the Federal Plastics Registry (the “Notice”) under section 46(1) of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 (“CEPA”). The Notice authorizes the Minister of Environment and Climate Change Canada (“Environment Canada”) to collect data on plastics in Canada for the purpose of conducting research, creating an inventory of data, formulating objectives and codes of practice, issuing guidelines, and assessing and reporting on the state of the environment.

The Federal Plastics Registry requires companies to register and report on plastics supplied in Canada for the 2024, 2025 and 2026 calendar years. The reported information is intended to inform Canada’s extended producer responsibility policy, which aims to improve waste reduction and recycling activities by extending a producer’s physical and financial responsibility for a product to the post-consumer stage of its lifecycle (e.g., the end of the product’s useful life when it becomes waste). This initiative is part of Canada’s broader strategy to reduce plastic pollution and promote a circular economy, ensuring that plastic remains within the economy and is kept out of the environment.[1]

The new requirements mandate companies, including producers of plastic products, resin manufacturers and service providers for the management of plastics, to report annually to Environment Canada on the quantity and types of plastic they manufacture, import and place on the market. Additionally, producers of plastic products and service providers will be required to report on the quantity of plastic collected and diverted, reused, repaired, remanufactured, refurbished, recycled, processed into chemicals, composted, incinerated, and landfilled. Those who generate packaging or plastic product waste will also be required to report on the amount of packaging or plastic waste generated on their industrial, commercial, and institutional premises.

Talia Gordner, Sharon G.K. Singh, and Claire Lingley, McMillan LLP, June 16, 2025.

Continue reading about Phase 1 at McMillan.ca.