We wouldn't have a waste problem if we regulated the kinds of plastics that we produce so that they could the then be used to create the raw materials needed for what the other witnesses have said their industries rely on.
I wanted to refer back to something that Dr. Misra said. She indicated that we could get rid of 80% of single-use waste plastics if we could deal with three specific types, one being mixed material plastics, another being multi-layer protective films and the third being impractical items to recycle. This really shows that if we have these three types of materials that we actually can't deal with—they will always be waste; they will never be economically viable to deal with in another way—it is going to require the industry to shift to something that is reusable, and that then addresses the waste.
We can't promote recycling facilities or create federal standards or agreements with the provinces about recyclability, about concentrating the amount of recycled material in any one jurisdiction or place, unless we're actually creating useful material that can actually be reused.
That is just one example showing that, yes, we have a plastic waste problem, but the reason we have a plastic waste problem is not due to individual behaviour. Rather, it is due to a lack of regulation that would assist in giving industry those signals about what is useful for Canadian society.
We only have regulation when there is a failure of collective action or a failure of the market. In this case, through no fault of the industry, there is a failure of the market, so we have to send those signals through the federal government.