Canada Circular Policy Expedition

Monday 12 – Thursday 15 October 2026

In-person

Speakers

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Four days inside Québec's two systems.

October 12–15, 2026
Montréal, Québec
By invitation
In partnership with NCEL

A Policy Circle expedition for U.S. policymakers and value-chain leaders. Québec runs packaging EPR and a modernized deposit return system over the same households. You spend the week watching both of them operate, and asking the people who run them how they got there.

days on the ground

site visits, from curbside to end markets

systems running over the same households

province where both run at once

Why Québec, why now

Seven U.S. states have passed packaging EPR laws. About ten run deposit return systems, most of them designed decades ago. States working on either one keep landing on the same questions: who funds collection, how material quality holds up, where recovered material goes, and what redemption costs to run.

Québec has worked through versions of those questions. It runs a producer-funded curbside stream alongside an expanded deposit return system, over the same households, and rebuilt both recently. In one week you can follow a container from the moment someone sets it down to the point it becomes feedstock, and ask the operators at each handoff what they would do differently.

The loop the week follows

Producers & packagingWhere the obligation starts and the fees are set.
Households & consumersOne household, two return routes running at the same time.
Curbside collection, Day 2The producer-funded blue bin stream.
Deposit return, Day 3Redemption, verification and consumer access.
Sortation & recovery, Days 2 & 3Where the quality of the material gets set.
Reprocessing & end markets, Day 4Recovered fibre back into manufacturing.

The week follows both return routes and the handoffs between them.

What makes an expedition different

About half the week runs on operating floors. The rest goes to working through what the group saw, in small sessions with the people who built and run the systems.

See it running

Operating sites mid-shift, at the scale they actually run.

Ask the operators

Time with the people who run each part of the system.

Follow one loop

Both return routes, in the order material moves through them.

Hosted on site

Nearly every session runs at an operator's own office or plant.

Chatham House Rule

Participants can use what they hear but not attribute it, so questions can be direct.

The week

Each full day pairs time with a system operator and time on an operating floor. Pick a day to see how it runs.

Site visit Deep dive with the system operator Session, debrief & community

Arrive & convene

Participants land in Montréal. Nothing formal is scheduled, so a late flight costs you nothing.

Throughout the day

Arrivals

Arrivals & hotel check-in

The host hotel sits in central Montréal. Address and booking details go to confirmed participants ahead of travel.

7:00 – 9:00 PM

Community

Welcome reception & introductions

Light food and refreshments in the hotel bar and lounge. A first chance to hear what everyone came to work out.

Setting the scene: packaging EPR, recovery and end markets

A morning hosted at the producer responsibility organization's own offices, then the afternoon on a sorting floor.

7:45 – 8:45 AM

Community

Breakfast at the hotel

8:45 – 9:00 AM

Walk to the EEQ offices

A few minutes on foot from the hotel.

9:00 – 10:00 AM

Session

U.S. packaging EPR: who's who, and what to watch

Who the main stakeholders are, how programs are structured, and which questions keep coming up in states working on EPR. Open Q&A with experts and participants.

10:00 AM – 12:30 PM

Deep dive

Québec packaging EPR and the blue bin

An extended session with Éco Entreprises Québec on the design, governance and operation of the province's modernized packaging EPR and curbside “blue bin” system, with time to go well past the briefing.

Maryse VermettePresident & CEO, Éco Entreprises Québec
Charles David Mathieu-PoulinHead, Office of the President, Strategic Projects & Government Relations, Éco Entreprises Québec

12:30 – 1:45 PM

Community

Lunch

Catered at the EEQ offices. The EEQ team stays for lunch.

1:45 – 2:45 PM

Transit to the afternoon site

Private coach.

2:45 – 4:15 PM

Site visit

Material recovery facility

Recovery, sortation and pre-processing of curbside recyclables, seen first-hand. Facility leadership on material quality, offtake and end markets.

4:15 – 5:15 PM

Transit back to the hotel

6:30 – 8:30 PM

Community

Group dinner

A short walk from the hotel.

Deposit return, end to end

The longest day on the road. Container sortation in the morning, then the system operator's own offices and the return points consumers actually use.

7:30 – 8:15 AM

Community

Breakfast & day overview

8:30 AM

Depart by private coach, with a U.S. deposit return briefing en route

What recycling refunds are, who the main stakeholders are, and the decision points that come up in every state: fraud prevention, retail redemption, redemption technology, unredeemed funds and scrap sales.

10:30 AM – 12:50 PM

Site visit

Container sortation facility

A tour and working discussion of how returned containers are counted, verified and prepared for onward recycling.

12:50 – 2:30 PM

Transit back toward Montréal

Lunch is delivered to the facility and eaten en route.

2:30 – 3:00 PM

Session

U.S. system grounding

A final pass on the history and current state of U.S. deposit return, and the questions still open.

3:00 – 4:00 PM

Deep dive

Québec's modernized deposit-return system

The system operator on how Québec's deposit return system is governed and implemented, hosted at their new offices.

Jean-François LefortVice President of Strategy, Consignaction

4:00 – 5:30 PM

Site visit

Redemption sites

Reverse vending machines at retailers and a bulk drop-off location: how consumers return containers, and how collection, verification and logistics work behind the counter.

5:00 – 7:00 PM

Community

Reception at the operator's offices

Cocktails and bites, with the site-visit leaders staying on. Return to the hotel from 7:00 PM.

Closing the loop

A debrief while it is fresh, one last mill that sits in both systems at once, then a working lunch. Programming ends mid-afternoon.

8:00 – 8:45 AM

Community

Check-out, luggage storage & breakfast

Store bags at the hotel front desk. If you have an afternoon flight and may leave straight from the site, bring your luggage on the coach; it travels in the undercarriage during the visit.

8:45 – 9:30 AM

Debrief

Threading the needle: takeaways

A group debrief on the main takeaways and the questions still open, and which parts of the Québec system are worth a second look in your own state.

9:30 – 10:30 AM

Transit to the final site

10:30 AM – 12:30 PM

Site visit

Paper and carton recycling mill

The last stop closes the loop: a fibre mill that takes material from both the blue bin and the deposit system. Time with the mill's leadership on how recovered cartons and paper move back into manufacturing.

12:30 – 1:00 PM

Transit back to the hotel area

1:00 – 2:30 PM

Closing

Lunch & close

What the week turned up, the questions still open, and how participants plan to use any of it at home. Programming ends mid-afternoon.

Addresses, hotel details and the full logistics pack go to registered participants before travel. Timings may shift.

Who should be in the room

The group stays small and mixed on purpose. A legislator working on a bill and the operator who would have to run it end up at the same conveyor on the same morning.

Legislators & legislative staff Regulators & agency leadership Advisory & oversight board members Municipal & county leadership Producer responsibility organizations Consumer brands & retailers Legislators & legislative staff Regulators & agency leadership Advisory & oversight board members Municipal & county leadership Producer responsibility organizations Consumer brands & retailers

Deposit return system operators Material recovery & sortation operators Reprocessors & end-market buyers Material manufacturers & converters Waste & recycling service providers Trade organizations & NGOs Deposit return system operators Material recovery & sortation operators Reprocessors & end-market buyers Material manufacturers & converters Waste & recycling service providers Trade organizations & NGOs

It is easier to weigh a design choice after watching it run.

What you'll leave with

The week is built so that what you see is usable when you get back, in a hearing, a rulemaking or a supplier conversation.

A working picture of how packaging EPR and deposit return interact when both run over the same households, including where they compete for the same material.
Design detail on the decisions that keep coming up in U.S. debates: funding mechanisms, consumer access standards, redemption technology, unredeemed funds and material quality.
A sense of what implementation cost in time and money, from the people who paid it, including what they would sequence differently.
What doesn't transfer: the parts of the Québec model that rest on its geography, governance or scale.
Working relationships with peers across states and across the value chain, and with the Canadian operators, built over four days.
A written report from Circle afterwards, covering what the group observed under Chatham House Rule, that you can share internally.

What an expedition looks like

Scenes from Circle's 2025 Montréal expedition.

Expedition participants boarding the private coach at the start of a site-visit day

Participants wearing tour headsets listening to a facility briefing on the plant floor

Participants in hard hats and high-visibility vests watching mixed recyclables move up a sortation conveyor

Rows of baled recovered plastic stacked across a sorting facility floor

Participants gathered around a sorting station examining recovered material

A facility host explaining container sortation equipment to the group

A participant asking a question during a debrief session

Roundtable discussion during an expedition debrief

A moderated panel discussion during the expedition programming

The group at a shared dinner on the final evening of the expedition

Circle's 2025 Montréal circular policy expedition

In partnership with NCEL

National Caucus of Environmental Legislators (NCEL)

Circle convenes the expedition with the National Caucus of Environmental Legislators, a nonpartisan network of state legislators working on environmental policy. NCEL helps bring legislators into the room and keeps the programming close to the questions states are weighing now.

This expedition has taken place

Thank you to everyone who joined us in Québec

The Canadian Circular Policy Expedition ran October 12–15, 2026, and registration is closed. See the events calendar for Circle's next expeditions and sessions.

See upcoming events

FAQ

What is the Canadian Circular Policy Expedition?

A four-day trip to Québec for U.S. policymakers and value-chain leaders, built around packaging EPR and a modernized deposit return system running side by side. The week holds four site visits and extended sessions with the organizations that run the two systems, nearly all of it hosted at their own offices and plants, and closes with a working debrief on what any of it means for U.S. states.

When and where is it?

Monday, October 12 through Thursday, October 15, 2026, based in Montréal, Québec, with coach transfers to sites around the city. Plan to arrive Monday, when there is a welcome reception in the evening, and to leave Thursday afternoon or evening. Programming ends mid-afternoon on Thursday.

How is this different from a conference?

There is no exhibition hall and very little stage time. You move through one system in the order material moves through it, from collection to end markets, asking questions of the people operating each part. Most of the week happens on plant floors or in the operators' own offices.

Who can take part?

By invitation, with a small group so site visits stay workable and conversations stay candid. Circle builds the room across legislators and staff, regulators, municipal leaders, producers, operators and technical experts.

What does it cost, and what's included?

Programming, ground transport between sites and most meals were covered. Participants booked their own flights and hotel, and scholarships were available to some state legislators and key staff.

Do I need a passport?

Yes. U.S. citizens need a valid passport, or another WHTI-compliant travel document, to enter Canada and to return to the United States. Check yours well before October and confirm the entry requirements for your own nationality, since some travellers also need an eTA or a visa. Participants are responsible for their own travel documents.

How physically demanding is it?

Site visits involve standing and walking for long stretches, sometimes on working industrial floors with noise, stairs and uneven surfaces. Closed-toe shoes are required. Sites provide any other protective equipment. Wednesday is the long day on the road, with several hours on a coach and lunch eaten en route. Tell Circle about access needs when you confirm and we will sort them out with the sites beforehand.

What language is the programming in?

All programming runs in English. Montréal is a French-speaking city, so some signage and on-site material will be in French. You do not need any French to take part.

Are sessions confidential?

Sessions run under the Chatham House Rule. Participants are free to use what they learn, but may not attribute specific comments to individuals, companies or organizations outside the room. Circle's report afterwards follows the same rule.

Does Circle take a position on these policies?

No. As a neutral convener, Circle does not advocate for any particular circular policy approach. Expeditions are for observation and comparison, and the programming sets out trade-offs rather than conclusions. Programming is held in full compliance with U.S. and Canadian antitrust and competition laws, and is not a forum for coordinating commercial strategy or discussing competitively sensitive information. Each organization makes its own independent business decisions.

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