Liberals promise protection on eco fees

But Tories cry foul over rise in certain charges to cover recycling costs

Consumers will get more protection from eco fees — now charged on a variety of products from TVs to tires — in new legislation this spring, Environment Minister Jim Bradley said Thursday as the government came under renewed fire for the charges.

The minority Liberals issued the pledge after Progressive Conservative Leader Tim Hudak called higher fees coming into effect lately “another Liberal tax grab” that will send shoppers across the border.

Bradley said he is “deeply disappointed that the use of eco fees by some producers continues.”

Some fees intended to cover the cost of environmentally safe disposal of electronics and other products — such as a hike to $39.50 from $27.60 on TVs over 29 inches — are rising May1, while others are falling, according to the Ontario Electronic Stewardship. It is one of several industry-run bodies set up under government regulation that charge such fees, which do not go to the province — something Hudak said citizens just don’t believe. “When they hear that the industry is doing it and the Liberals are hands off on these eco taxes, they’re rightly calling out bull on that one,” he told reporters. Premier Kathleen Wynne defended the fees. “The reality is that we need to find ways to deal with waste matter, whether it’s tires, whether it’s glass, whatever it is . . . and that comes with a cost,” she cautioned. A previous round of eco fees on household items prompted a consumer backlash in July 2010 after they came into effect with no warning on the same day as the 13-percent HST. Waste Diversion Ontario, which oversees the various recycling programs, said fees are now going up, or down in some cases, to reflect the actual cost of recycling particular products. “It’s not correct to call them a tax, since none of the recycling fees go to government,” chief executive Michael Scott said in a statement. Wynne acknowledged another round of fees from the Ontario Tire Stewardship on some farm equipment saw substantial hikes.

“There is a conversation about mitigating those costs,” said Wynne, who is also serving as agriculture minister to court support in rural Ontario, where the Liberals lost seats in the 2011 election. New Democrat MPP Jonah Schein told the Star the fees prove the recycling system is “broken.”

Schein urged the government to take firmer control, set targets for recycling and make producers swallow the fees as a cost of doing business.