How we prepare supply data: every weight evidenced, every step written down.
RPRA supply data preparation is a documentation job before it is a numbers job. A report number is only as good as the evidence behind it — so this page sets out exactly how the EPR Data Desk builds a producer's packaging data: what we ask for, how each weight is evidenced, how categories are assigned, and the audit trail you keep when we're done.
Data preparation only · We never file as the producer · Not legal advice
Source-document intake.
We start from the documents your packaging already has, not from a blank spreadsheet. For each product line we collect what exists: supplier packaging specifications, spec sheets and certificates, your SKU and product lists, and the sales records that show what was actually supplied, where, and in what quantity. Gaps are listed explicitly at this stage — a missing spec is a known gap in the file, never a silent estimate.
SKU-level weight evidence.
The base table is built one SKU at a time, one packaging component at a time: the bottle and its cap, the box and its insert, the label, the film. Every component weight in the file carries its source — a supplier specification, or a documented measurement method where no spec exists. If a weight cannot be supported by a source or a written method, it does not go in the file. This evidence layer is what the 2027 report's data-integrity weight tiers will measure: what share of your reported weight rests on validated, documented methods.
Category mapping, including the 2027 categories.
Each component is mapped to its reporting category, and the mapping decision is recorded with the SKU — not left in someone's head. From January 1, 2027, producers report 2026 supply data under new harmonized national reporting categories, so a file built this winter is mapped to the harmonized categories from the start: the same component, the same evidence, expressed in the categories the 2027 report will actually use. Where a component could sit in two categories, the reasoning is written down beside it.
The file you keep.
What the audit trail contains
- The base table: every SKU, every component, weight by material category
- The source or documented method behind every weight
- The category mapping for each component, with reasoning where a choice was made
- Any deductions, and how each was calculated
- The calculation file itself, in a form your team can re-open and re-run
Why it matters
Regulators verify. RPRA's published compliance orders show what happens when reports are missing or unsupported — Roman Cheese Products (Order RPRA-0057) was ordered to file five years of reports within seven days, and Hermès Canada (Order RPRA-0098) was ordered over a missed May 31 deadline; the orders cite a maximum base penalty of $75,000 plus the economic benefit of non-compliance, and every order is posted publicly, by name. An audit trail means a verification request is answered from the file, not rebuilt under pressure.
Your officer attests. We prepare.
RPRA's own FAQ confirms the split: a producer may contract an external consultant as a Registry user to help prepare and submit data, but registration and attestations remain the producer's own — the producer stays responsible for its Registry data. Our posture is stricter than the permission: we prepare the data and the submission package only. We never file as the producer, never sign or attest on a client's behalf, and we give no legal advice — interpreting the regulation for your situation is your own counsel's work.
One dataset, both filings.
Ontario's Blue Box report and the federal Plastics Registry ask for the same underlying facts — what you supplied, in what packaging, at what weights — in different shapes. Because the base table holds the component-level evidence once, the same dataset serves the RPRA report (2026 data due May 31, 2027) and the Federal Plastics Registry Phase 1 report (annual; 2026 data due September 29, 2027) — no second build, no reconciling two spreadsheets that disagree.
Start with the free 48-Hour Data-Readiness Check.
Send your SKU list and, within 48 hours, you get a written readiness check: which weights are present and which are missing, where the category gaps are, and whether the data you have would stand up. If you're exempt or already covered, the check says so.
On the contact form, choose the EPR Data Desk option and mention the readiness check.