About Us
Product Care is an industry-led organization working to protect the environment by providing free recycling locations for consumers and businesses to bring products like paint, household hazardous waste, lights and alarms.
We divert these post-consumer products from Canada’s landfills and waterways, ensuring they are managed responsibly at their end-of-life.
We are a federally incorporated not-for-profit organization, and provide recycling services across nine Canadian provinces. Product Care encourages individuals and businesses to reduce their waste and reuse when possible, and we provide recycling solutions for post-consumer products.
What we do…
Provide recycling locations
for end users to drop off their recyclable products
Develop transportation systems
to remove recyclable waste safely and efficiently
Educate
communities
about available recycling programs and where to take their recyclable products at end-of-life
Work with recycling experts
to ensure industry-leading material processing and recycling occurs
How we’re funded
Product Care is funded by its membership, a group of more than 700 producers of products that are regulated under the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) model. We are not a government body. Our recycling programs are free for all to use and are funded by the fees that we collect from our members.
The history of Product Care Recycling
In 1994, the province of British Columbia introduced Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) regulations for paint, obligating paint producers (retailers, manufacturers, etc.) to develop recycling processes for their end-of-life products. The regulations were stringent and comprehensive, requiring producers to create collection networks, product transportation systems, processing standards, reporting and auditing practices, public awareness and education strategies, and more.
In response, paint producers united to form Product Care (then called Paint Care), a not-for-profit organization that would manage every aspect of the provincial EPR requirements on their behalf, ensuring that its members (aka paint producers) were compliant.
Paint Care was a tremendous success, capturing significant volumes of paint in its recycling program. In subsequent years, the association was reorganized as “Product Care Recycling” when it expanded throughout Canada and the United States and added more product categories. Today, Product Care manages paint, household hazardous waste (pesticides, flammable liquids, corrosives, toxics, solvents and more), lighting products, and smoke and CO alarms, in response to EPR regulation designating these products.
Our vision, mission and values
Our vision
Our vision is to establish Product Care as a leader in the development and management of innovative product stewardship solutions.
Our mission
Our mission is to provide product stewardship solutions that advance the efficiency and effectiveness of program delivery for our members, while caring for the environment, our consumers and our employees.
Our values
- Environmental commitment
- Service and member orientation
- Continuous improvement
- Transparency
- Collaboration
- Accountability