Thank you for the question.
I think, similar to the previous question, you're right. The diversity, the range of recycling practices across the country is a real challenge right now.
I have two points.
First, just to clarify, FCM's role really is to lobby the federal government, and so we don't have a role to dictate policy to our members. At the same time, we do have an important role in convening all municipalities and trying to collaborate with the federal government on solutions. That's a part of what we're trying to do here today.
I think the collaboration, or the harmonization that's needed is not only around collection and processing, which is the municipal role, but also in product design. As we heard from some of the speakers earlier, if the types of plastics being sold into the marketplace have additives or are multi-layer, or have a certain chemistry that makes recycling very difficult or expensive, or are not compostable, depending on the technology, then it doesn't have the same value. It's very difficult for that to be sold to a recycler or to be recycled.
It's similar, as well, when you're talking about reducing the amount of plastics being consumed in the first place, or making plastics more durable so that they can be used more times. Municipalities don't have the ability to dictate to industry how products are designed and sold into the marketplace. We think that's a role for the federal government through the Canadian Environmental Protection Act.