The Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment (CCME) has developed this guidance document to facilitate consistent extended producer responsibility (EPR) policies for plastics, as committed by federal, provincial and territorial ministers of the environment under phase 1 of the Canada-wide Action Plan on Zero Plastic Waste (CCME 2019a). As a competitive, market-based approach to manage the reuse, recycling and safe disposal of end-of-life products and packaging, EPR is recognized as a leading approach for reducing plastic waste in a cost-efficient and responsible manner. The success of EPR policies in Canada can be built upon to achieve the improvements necessary to reach zero plastic waste by working towards consistent EPR policies. These improvements will take place in the context that every jurisdiction is different in terms of its location, size, infrastructure, existing programming, priorities and waste policy situation. When key elements of EPR are consistent across jurisdictions, EPR policies can be more efficiently implemented by producers, producer responsibility organizations (PROs) and governments to provide crucial additional benefits, including: • cost savings and improved outcomes for producers from economies of scale that can be obtained by operating programs in larger markets that cross jurisdictional boundaries • reduced administrative burden for producers, in particular for data collection and reporting • opportunities to collaborate between jurisdictions, offering particular advantages to territories that may not have economies of scale to establish distinct EPR systems • more effective and transparent tracking and performance measurement through comparable data • business service, manufacturing and product innovations. Consistency does not mean that all EPR policies must use the same words or instruments, and this guidance document does not provide a model EPR policy that all jurisdictions must adopt. Rather, consistency should be seen in terms of real-world effects. For the purposes of this guidance document and in the context of achieving zero plastic waste, EPR policies are consistent when they serve the same purpose, seek the same or analogous outcomes, treat like producers comparably, measure outcomes in a like manner to provide comparable results and operate from the same set of definitions. Given the diversity of Canadian jurisdictions in terms of infrastructure, market size, population density, legal traditions and geography, among other things, many elements of an EPR policy should be tailored to local circumstances. Greater consistency in EPR policies with regard to definitions, the roles and responsibilities of key players, program accessibility, targets and ways to measure program performance will enable efficiencies and improve diversion outcomes.