Lightbulb Program

Lightbulb Program

Lamps (Lightbulbs) Program Overview

The Government of New Brunswick has established the Designated Materials Regulation 2024-37 under the Clean Environment Act which introduces a new Extended Producer Responsibility program for lamps (lightbulbs) in New Brunswick. REGULATION 2024-37, effective July 15, 2024, sets out the requirements for the program.

Lamp is defined as “a replaceable light source designed to produce light from electricity, including but not limited to:

a) a fluorescent tube;
b) a compact fluorescent lamp;
c) a high-intensity discharge lamp;
d) an incandescent lamp;
e) a light-emitting diode lamp.”

As the agency responsible for designated materials, Recycle NB will oversee the lamp program in New Brunswick. Under REGULATION 2024-37, no producer shall sell, offer for sale or distribute a lamp to a person in the Province on or after October 31, 2024, unless the producer is registered with Recycle NB.

Producers may choose a Producer Responsibility Organization (PRO) to operate a recycling program for lamps on their behalf. The PRO will be required to submit a stewardship plan for the collection and management of lamps throughout New Brunswick by December 31, 2024.

More details about REGULATION 2024-37 can be found here


Producers

According to REGULATION 2024-37, all producers who wish to sell, offer for sale or distribute lamps (lightbulbs) to a person in the province must register with Recycle NB and submit a plan for the management of the designated material.

A producer of a designated material shall be one of the following persons:

“(a) the brand holder of the designated material if the brand holder has a permanent establishment in Canada;
(b) in the absence of a person referred to in paragraph (a), the importer of the designated material into New Brunswick if the importer has a permanent establishment in New Brunswick; or
(c) in the absence of a person referred to in paragraph (a) or (b), the retailer of the designated material that supplies the designated material to the consumer.”

With respect to paragraph (c), REGULATION 2024-37 states that “when a retailer sells designated materials by means of a physical or electronic marketplace that is owned, controlled or operated by a marketplace facilitator, the marketplace facilitator shall be deemed to be the retailer.”

REGULATION 2024-37 also states that when a producer as defined above is “an enterprise operated in whole or in part under a franchise agreement, the producer shall be deemed to be the franchisor referred to in the agreement, if the franchisee has a permanent establishment in the Province.”

Stewardship Plan

As per REGULATION 2024-37, a producer of lamps (lightbulbs) shall file a stewardship plan to Recycle NB no later than December 31, 2024. The producer then shall implement and comply with the stewardship plan within 180 days of the date of its approval.