Thank you.
Good afternoon. I'm pleased to be here with you again.
My name is Helen Ryan, and I am the associate assistant deputy minister of the environmental protection branch at Environment and Climate Change Canada.
I'm joined today by my colleagues Dany Drouin; Nancy Hamzawi, the assistant deputy minister of our science and technology branch; and Jacinthe Séguin.
I understand the focus of the session today is on the questions you have provided, and I am happy to go over them with you. We have also submitted written responses to your questions.
In the course of your study, you've heard from many stakeholders along the plastics value chain, as well as from environmental organizations. I think you'll agree that the plastic waste question has many different angles and issues associated with it. I look forward to reading the recommendations that you'll put forward in your upcoming report.
From the testimony you've heard, major themes have included the state of the science regarding plastic and marine litter, commitments under the ocean plastics charter, the role of extended producer responsibility, the potential for national standards and requirements, and the federal government's jurisdictional authority to pursue things such as bans or other regulations for things such as single-use plastics.
With respect to the ocean plastics charter, these commitments are voluntary. The charter is not legally binding, and signatories, who are government and industry partners, are invited to implement the objectives and commitments of the charter within their respective jurisdiction and in their areas of influence. About 20 governments and about 60 industries have signed on to the charter to date.
In support of the charter, Canada committed $100 million to support the development of plastic waste solutions in developing countries. The commitment includes support for waste management, funding to spark innovation through the G7 innovation challenge to address marine litter, and public-private partnerships through the World Bank's PROBLUE fund and the World Economic Forum's global plastics action partnership.
As mismanaged municipal solid waste in select developing countries accounts for an estimated 50% to 70% of plastics wastes that are entering the world's ocean and needs in the order of U.S. $5 billion annually to help achieve the ambitious reductions we're targeting, this financial commitment we have put forward remains modest.
You've asked for clarification on the European Union's recent targets on plastic waste and how they compare with the targets set in the the ocean plastics charter. In June 2018, the European Union endorsed the EU strategy for plastics in a circular economy. The strategy includes targets for design of products and packaging for reuse and recyclability, and improving the uptake of recycled content in new products.
The European Union ecodesign directive also sets out rules and requirements for environmental performance of products, many of which include plastics.
More recently, the consideration of a single-use plastics directive intends to target specific products designated as major contributors to marine litter in the EU context. The ocean plastics charter takes a comprehensive approach rather than focusing on specific products, committing to targets for both single-use and durable plastics.
The commitments made by the EU do not surpass the commitments made in the charter, as their scope is slightly different. However, the legal nature of the EU plastics directive can help to ensure stricter compliance by countries to help meet their targets.
As we work with our provincial and territorial counterparts in the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment, actions by other jurisdictions are references to inform federal actions.
Regarding the commitment of the provinces and territories under the 2009 Canada-wide action plan for extended producer responsibility—EPR—the provinces and territories have made uneven progress in implementing phase 1 and have not moved beyond limited measures for the plastic products covered under phase 2. This means that the biggest source of plastic waste, which is packaging, is subject to some form of recycling program under EPR in only five provinces, with B.C. being the only jurisdiction coming close to offering recycling for a broad number of plastic packaging products.
However, it should be noted that nearly all provinces have a deposit return system for plastic drink bottles, which results in about 70% recovery of these bottles nationally.
We have provided a table with our written responses that gives more detail on the programs offered by the different provinces and territories.
You also asked us about options for federal regulation of plastic products in the context of single-use plastics, EPR programs, recycling targets, or deposit-return schemes.
The federal government first needs to access appropriate regulatory powers to do this. To gain this access, plastics, or a subset of plastics, must be added to schedule 1, which is our list of toxic substances under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act. Regulatory measures under CEPA could then be proposed where the science warrants action because of the harmful effects on the environment or danger to human health.
ECCC has used voluntary environmental performance agreements with industry sectors to achieve release targets or meet environmental quality objectives in other areas. These require negotiations with industry sectors to complete. They are non-binding, but they could be options for a variety of other products containing plastic, such as durable goods.
So we have flexibility in the tools available to us, both our regulatory ones—if we add an element of plastics to our list of toxic substances—and our voluntary ones.
Some provinces, such as P.E.I., and municipalities, such as Victoria, B.C., are breaking ground by using their authorities to ban plastic bags, takeout containers, and some single-use products.
I hope this information is useful to the committee, and I'd be happy to answer any further questions you may have.
Thank you again for your contribution to our understanding of plastic waste and the options for its management in Canada.
Thank you very much.