Question Period Note: Canadian Action on Plastics

Canadian Action on Plastics

• Plastics play an important role, and are used in the lives of Canadians on a daily basis, even more so now in relation to the COVID-19 pandemic. However, their mismanagement is a global concern impacting the economy and the environment. In Canada, only 9% of our plastic waste is recycled. About 86% ends up in landfills and 1% enters the environment as litter.
• Moving towards a more circular economy for plastics can reduce 1.8 megatonnes of carbon pollution every year, generate about $8 billion in revenue annually, and create 42,000 jobs.
• Our government is working with provinces and territories to implement the Canada-wide Strategy on Zero Plastic Waste and support the development of extended producer responsibility programs across the country.
• We remain committed to reducing plastic pollution, including banning harmful single-use plastics, where warranted and supported by science.
• We intend to establish recycled-content requirements to drive investment in recycling infrastructure and spur innovation in technology and product design to keep plastics in the economy and out of the environment.
• To date, the Government has committed over $19 million through the Canadian Plastics Innovation Challenges, supporting small- and medium-sized businesses to develop solutions to address plastic pollution.
• To advance global action, Canada is championing the Ocean Plastics Charter, which encourages a lifecycle approach to plastic waste. Canada is also investing $100 million to support improved waste management in developing countries.
• These efforts are part of our comprehensive approach to meet our target of zero plastic waste by 2030.

• The federal government has a comprehensive agenda to address plastic waste and pollution. It includes working with provinces and territories to develop consistent extended producer responsibility programs; advancing research to better understand the plastics value chain and the impacts of plastic pollution; reducing plastic waste in government operations; funding SMEs and organizations to find and pilot innovative solutions in specific sectors or for specific uses of plastic; working with industry to prevent and retrieve abandoned, lost or discarded fishing gear and to reduce plastic waste across the value chain.
• In November 2018, federal, provincial and territorial environment ministers, through the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment (CCME), approved in principle the Canada-wide Strategy on Zero Plastic Waste. The Strategy aims to achieve zero plastic waste by keeping plastics in the economy and out of landfills and the environment through solutions to better prevent, reduce, reuse, recover, and clean up plastic waste.
• In June 2019, Canadian Environment Ministers released the first of two phases of the Action Plan on Zero Plastic Waste. Phase 1 focuses on achieving consistent extended producer responsibility programs; a roadmap to address single-use and disposable plastics; support for recycling infrastructure and innovation in plastics manufacturing; and, tools for green procurement practices. Phase 2 focuses on actions that improve institutional, consumer and business awareness to manage and prevent plastic waste in a responsible manner; decrease plastic pollution and waste from aquatic activities; further plastics science to help measure performance and inform decision-making; address environmental plastics via clean-up and capture; and contribute towards global action linked to the reduction of plastic pollution.
• Through the Increasing Knowledge on Plastic Pollution Initiative, $2,256,554 has been allocated from 2020-2022 towards sixteen research projects that mainly focus on microplastic impacts on animal and human health. The initiative supports research that addresses identified knowledge gaps in the Science Assessment of Plastic Pollution and implementation of Canada’s Plastics Science Agenda. The goal of the Increasing Knowledge on Plastic Pollution Initiative is to leverage partnerships, increase science capacity and produce knowledge linked to plastic ecotoxicology and impacts to human health in Canada. Through the Plastics Science for a Cleaner Future program, $6,994,086 has been awarded to seven projects that will help detect, characterize and quantify environmental microplastics and further research on macroplastic and microplastic effects on the environment, biota and human health.
• On May 12, 2021 “plastic manufactured items” was added to Schedule 1 (the list of Toxic Substances) of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 (CEPA). This listing gives the government access to the authorities under CEPA to manage plastics at various stages of their life-cycle including regulations to prohibit single-use plastics and set mandatory recycled content requirements.
• The House of Commons unanimously voted on March 24, 2015, that microbeads, which are plastic beads ≤ 5 mm in size, in consumer products entering the environment could have serious harmful effects. As a result, the government added microbeads to the List of Toxic Substances in Schedule 1 of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 and published the Microbeads in Toiletries Regulations in June 2017.
• On October 7, 2020, the Minister of Environment and Climate Change, the Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson, announced the next steps in the Government of Canada’s plan to achieve zero plastic waste by 2030 with the publication of the discussion paper, Proposed Integrated Management Approach to Plastic Products to Prevent Waste and Pollution. The paper proposed six single-use plastic items for a ban. The final Science Assessment of Plastic Pollution was published the same day. The intent of this assessment is to provide a summary of the current status of science related to potential plastic pollution impacts on human health and the environment, guide future plastic pollution research and inform plastic pollution-related decision-making in Canada.
• Through the Canadian Plastic Innovation Challenge, the government is investing nearly $19 million to support Canadian innovators and small and medium-sized businesses to develop solutions for plastics challenges by providing winners with up to $150,000 to develop a proof of concept and subsequently up to $1,000,000 to develop a prototype if selected. The Challenges include, supporting innovation in reducing plastic waste and microfibers from textiles, finding sustainable alternatives to plastic packaging, developing sustainable fishing and aquaculture gear, and developing innovative solutions to address plastic waste and toxic substances from electronics.

• The Government of Canada is playing a leadership role in its federal operations by committing to divert at least 75 per cent of its plastic waste by 2030. This will be accomplished through changing federal practices (e.g. reducing the use of unnecessary single use plastics in meetings and events), as well as in the procurement of more sustainable plastic products such as those that are reusable, recyclable, repairable or are made with recycled plastic content.
• An unprecedented amount of single-use PPE is being used in Canada to prevent transmission of COVID-19 leading to an estimated 63,000 tonnes of PPE waste by mid-2021. Initiatives are underway to support the development of innovative systems, technologies and materials to keep PPE out of landfill. The Government is working with industry and health care partners to get these solutions to market.
• Canada is also active internationally and championed the Ocean Plastics Charter under its 2018 G7 presidency. The Charter advances a more resource-efficient and lifecycle approach to plastics stewardship on land and at sea. The Charter has been endorsed by 27 governments and more than 70 organizations and businesses. In support of the Charter, Canada invested $100 million in funding for developing countries to manage plastic resources and prevent pollution.
• During the G7 Climate and Environment Ministers’ Meeting in May 2021, Canada expressed its support for beginning negotiations towards a new legally-binding global agreement on plastics at the resumed fifth session of United Nations Environment Assemble (UNEA 5.2) in February 2022. Canada will actively engage in bilateral and multilateral discussions in the lead up to UNEA 5.2 to secure a meaningful and robust outcome.

None