Thank you, Mr. Chair and thank you to all of our witnesses who joined us today. This conversation is really teaching me a lot about all of the things we need to think about.
One thing that keeps coming to mind is the fact that change is hard. It's not an easy part of human nature. You know the ban on single-use plastics is really a first step for both consumers and producers to make those changes that we need.
Dr. Curran, I'd like to direct my first question to you. I'd like you to expand on your comments on the use of CEPA schedule 1 for listing plastic waste and why you say this is the appropriate venue for regulation.
I'll be specific with a reference here. CEPA schedule 1 also includes carbon dioxide as toxic, and carbon dioxide is used in food production. There doesn't seem to be an exodus of carbonated beverages in the industry in Canada or elsewhere in the world. People also don't avoid fire extinguishers that use of CO2, even though that's listed as toxic. There's also ammonia, which is dissolved in water and is used as a window cleaner in Windex. None of these products have stopped being used although they are listed, and that's because they are used in a specific way in our daily lives and the government regulates them appropriately.
We talked about the low bar in this first step. I would like you to go a little bit further into CEPA on schedule 1 for this.