Alberta communities are a vital stakeholder in Alberta’s transition to the Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) model for Hazardous and Special Products (HSP), from a long-standing history of collecting Household Hazardous Waste (HWW) stewardship products. Recognizing tight timelines and the limited space at HHW collection sites, Product Care has offered the option of commingling HHW/HSP products in the same collection container, to minimize disruption to existing community operations.
To facilitate the reasonable cost allocation between non-HSP HHW and HSP products within the commingle system, a Lab Pack Study will be undertaken. Proven to be successful in other jurisdictions, Lab Pack Studies are an acceptable approach to determine the percentage split between product categories. Therefore, Product Care is adopting this practice for the Alberta HSP program.
To foster transparency and mutual understanding of the sampling, communities who have chosen to commingle non-HSP HHW and HSP products within the same collection container, are invited to observe an annual Lab Pack Sampling Study.
Currently, there are three main service providers that provide the majority of the HHW services to communities in Alberta. Given time constraints, we have chosen two of the main service providers (DBS Environmental and Clean Harbors) to do a sampling study to determine the breakdown percentage of HSP versus HHW products collected and processed.
The results of the sampling study will determine the allocated cost between the HSP program and HHW (non-HSP) products on a collection container basis. The costs of the study will be borne entirely by Product Care. The result of this study will inform the allocation for 2025, and the results will be communicated by the end of February.
Communities are a key stakeholder and partners for us and in the spirit of partnership and transparency, we are inviting the communities that have expressed a preference for the commingling option to observe the sampling study. The study will be conducted by the service providers and will utilize actual HHW containers they have collected.
Lab Pack Sampling Study details:
| Lethbridge (conducted by DBS Environmental) – February 19 | |
| Address: 1430 33St N, Lethbridge, AB | |
| Time slot 1 | 9 AM – 12 PM |
| Time slot 2 | 1 PM – 4 PM |
| Red Deer (conducted by Clean Harbors) – February 20 | |
| Address: 4229 Hewlett Drive, Red Deer County, AB | |
| Time slot 1 | 9 AM – 12 PM |
| Time slot 2 | 1 PM – 4 PM |
Due to space constraints and safety requirements of the service providers, the number of community observers will be limited to a maximum of 8 representatives per location for each time slot.
We ask interested participants to email alberta@productcare.org before February 14 indicating their preferred location and time slot. Should there be more interest than space, we will endeavour to select representation reflective of Alberta’s diverse community sizes and geographies.
Following the study, Product Care will consult with attendees to obtain feedback, which will be incorporated into additional studies taking place later in the year, which will determine the HSP/HHW allocation percentage for 2026.
For further information or if you have any questions, please contact alberta@productcare.org.
Sincerely,
The Product Care Team