The latest version of Alberta’s new Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) recycling regulations could have a huge negative impact on the bottom line of community newspapers in the province, the Sherwood Park news reports.
Changes to the policy could increase the costs shouldered by community newspapers by millions of dollars per year.
“This boneheaded policy will kill journalism jobs in Alberta,” said Paul Deegan, president and CEO of News Media Canada.
“It makes no sense that cheesy romance novels are exempt while newspapers published by Albertans for Albertans get slammed with this punitive tax when the business is in dire straits.”
As the story notes, the purpose of the regulations is to reduce the amount of material, like packaging, that ends up in the recycle bin while shifting the cost of recycling onto producers. In the case of newspapers, the product is paper, not the packaging.
Several other provinces have released updated EPR plans recently. They include: Ontario, B.C., Saskatchewan and Manitoba.
