Cleanfarms can help you meet your obligations
Brand Owners/Retailers, businesses that supply farmers with crop inputs or ag plastics (e.g., twine, silage/bale wrap and silage bags/bunker covers and tarps), can meet their obligations in two ways. Brand Owners/Retailers can:
- operate a (government approved) agricultural plastic product stewardship program, or
- appoint an agent to operate a (government approved) agricultural plastic product stewardship program.
Appointing Cleanfarms to operate a program on your behalf is the most efficient way to meet these regulatory obligations.
- Are you a Brand Owner/Retailer?– Review the FAQs on the right hand side.
- I’m a Brand Owner/Retailer. What’s next?– Call us at 877-622-4460 ext. 2245.
Brand Owners/Retailers that wish to meet their obligations through Cleanfarms must register and adhere to financial and administrative rules. Please see our membership agreement.
Key References
- Materials Stewardship and Recycling Regulations
- Agricultural Plastic Product Stewardship Program
- PSP Approval Letter
- PEI Letter to Brand Owners (Environment, Energy and Climate Action)
- July 2023 Transitional funding announcement (Environment, Energy and Climate Action)
- A Snapshot of EPR Regulations on Ag Plastics
- Information for PEI Farmers
How Cleanfarms’ Government-Approved Program Works
Cleanfarms manages day-to-day program operations on behalf of Brand Owners/Retailers.
- Brand Owners/Retailers appoint Cleanfarms to operate a program on their behalf by entering into an agreement with Cleanfarms and becoming a member. Brand Owners/Retailers are responsible for financing program costs.
- Similar to programs for electronics or oil, a non-refundable Environmental Handling Fee (EHF) or a levy is put in place.
- The Brand Owners/Retailer can choose to apply the EHF as a visible fee at the Point of Purchase or incorporate it into the total cost of the product.
- Brand Owners/Retailers remit the EHF/levy to Cleanfarms.
Environmental Handling Fee (EHF) and levies
A non-refundable EHF or levy finances all of the costs associated with ag plastics recycling/recovery programs in Prince Edward Island.
How are EHFs/levies calculated?
Cleanfarms examines each ag plastic that is identified in the regulation.
For each ag plastic, Cleanfarms estimates an annual cost to manage a program to recover this material. The annual cost is then divided by the estimated volume of each material supplied into the market.
Depending on the ag plastic, a levy or EHF is calculated on a per kilogram basis or a per unit basis.
The levies below are in place for 2024.
Bags (fertilizer)
| Size | 2024 Levies |
|---|---|
| ≥ 500 kg | $2.20 |
Containers (pesticide* and fertilizer)
| Size | 2024 Levies (per containers) |
|---|---|
| ≤ 1 L | $0.083 |
| 1.01-23L | $0.83 |
| 23.1 – 225L | $21.97 |
| 225.1 – 550L | $31.17 |
| > 550 L | $43.61 |
Bags (seed and pesticide*)
| Size | 2024 Levies |
|---|---|
| Less than 30 kg | $0.28 |
| 31 to 500 kg | $1.46 |
| ≥ 501 kg | $2.92 |
All EHFs/levies are subject to applicable sales tax.
*Note – Brand owners/retailers who supply pesticides must support additional programming. Contact us to learn more.
What is a Brand Owner/Retailer?
Review section 110.1 of the regulation.
“brand owner means, in respect of an agricultural plastic product sold, offered for sale or otherwise distributed in or into the province,
- A manufacturer of the agricultural plastic product,
- A distributor of the agricultural plastic product in or into the province, or
- Where the agricultural plastic product is imported into the province, the first person to sell the agricultural plastic product in or into the province;”
A “retailer” is defined as ”a person who sells or offers for sale an agricultural plastic product directly to consumers.”
What is an agricultural plastic product?
Review section 110.1 of the regulation.
“agricultural plastic product” means a product manufactured for use in the agricultural industry and includes:
(i) low density polyethylene grain and silage bags, silage bunker covers and tarps,
(ii) low density polyethylene bale and silage wrap, and
(iii) polypropylene twine;
(iv) low density polyethylene or polypropylene bags, and paper bags, whether lined with plastic or other material or not, used for seed, pesticide and fertilizer,
(v) high density polyethylene containers of up to 23 litres in capacity for pesticide and fertilizer, and
(vi) bulk liquid transport products in sizes of 23 litres and greater used for pesticide and fertilizer.
The intention of the regulation is to capture all pesticide/fertilizer/seed containers & bags, films that are used for the storing of feed and baler twine.
I’m a Retailer and I’m not sure if I need to take on these obligations myself. I buy from company XYZ and resell.
Talk to your suppliers. Your suppliers may have already taken on the required obligations on your behalf.
Many Brand Owners are already Cleanfarms members. Review our member page.
If your supplier is listed our on member page, they are likely taking on the regulatory obligations on your behalf.
Retailers who supply fertilizer to farmers in bagged format need to pay special attention. Because fertilizer can be custom blended onsite, retailers often source their own bags for this type of transaction. Retailers are likely best suited to take on the regulatory obligations associated with these types of bags.
How will a Brand Owner/Retailer remit these EHFs or levies to Cleanfarms?
For crop input suppliers, reporting/remitting takes place annually.
For ag plastic suppliers, a reporting/remitting schedule is under development.
More details will be available shortly.
Why does there need to be an EHF or levy?
There is a cost associated with recycling or managing ag plastics or other packaging used in the ag sector. The EHF covers operational costs involved with collecting and transporting materials to end markets along with administration costs.
Where does it state that companies (brand owners or retailers) supplying crop inputs or ag plastics have an obligation?
Review section 110.3 of the regulation. It states that brand owners or retailers are prohibited from selling, offering for sale or otherwise distributing agricultural plastic products unless they operate an agricultural plastic product stewardship program
Section 110.1 (c) identifies the agricultural plastic products that are impacted by this regulation.
When does this start?
Section 110.3 of the regulation states that the obligations start December 1, 2022.
Brand owners or retailers are prohibited from selling, offering for sale or otherwise distributing agricultural plastic products unless they operate an agricultural plastic product stewardship program as of December 1, 2022.
Another start date to note is October 1, 2024. This is when the transitional funding provided by the provincial government wraps up and new financial obligations on fertilizer bags and ag plastics (e.g., twine, silage/bale wrap and silage bags/bunker covers and tarps) begin.
I am an ag-retailer and also a collection site for bags and jugs. How does this impact my business?
Ag-retailers meet the definition of a retailer in the regulation. As of December 1, 2022, ag-retailers need to make sure that they are compliant with these obligations.
First, talk to your suppliers.
Most pesticide, seed and liquid fertilizer brand owners are already compliant and have been voluntary financing a program for 30+ years.
This amendment introduces obligations on brand owners/retailers that supply fertilizer in bagged format. This may impact your business and require you, or your supplier, to operate their own program or appoint Cleanfarms to operate a program on your/their behalf.
Talk to Cleanfarms. Call (877-622-4460 ext. 2245) or email Cleanfarms to learn more.
What are the EHFs on ag plastics like twine, silage/bale wrap and silage bags/bunker covers and tarps?
Work is underway to calculate EHFs on ag plastics. This information will be available in the fall of 2023.
Do these obligations impact suppliers who do business in New Brunswick and Nova Scotia?
No. The regulation impacts supply into Prince Edward Island only.
