Thank you.
Good afternoon.
Thank you for the opportunity to appear before the committee in support of its study. I'm pleased to appear here with colleagues from Environment and Climate Change Canada; Innovation, Science and Economic Development Canada; and Natural Resources Canada.
The circular economy provides an alternative and more sustainable framework for the design, production and consumption of products and materials. It keeps them in the economy and out of landfills for as long as possible. That's all in support of the Government of Canada's efforts to tackle climate change, biodiversity loss and pollution, while creating opportunities for clean growth and job creation.
As such, the Government of Canada has embedded circular economy principles into policies and initiatives across a variety of sectors, including food waste, mining and minerals, home appliances and electronics, and plastics.
More specifically, I am going to talk about the approach taken by the Government of Canada to supporting the transition to a circular economy for plastics. My colleagues will address the other components of your study.
Improving the way we manage plastic waste can reduce plastic pollution and carbon pollution, retain the value of plastics in the economy, and generate new revenues and jobs. In support of this, we've set an ambitious Canada-wide goal of zero plastic waste by 2030 and announced over $275 million to support its achievement.
However, we know there are challenges to overcome. These include the cost of recycled plastics and the lack of economies of scale, especially compared to new plastics and the costs of landfilling; weak end-markets for recycled plastics due to limited supply and demand for these products, and their uneven quality; and low collection and recycling rates due to a range of factors, such as contamination and lack of infrastructure.
The approach taken by the government for meeting these challenges applies at each stage of the life cycle of plastics and follows the hierarchy of waste management. At the top of that hierarchy, measures for preventing and reducing waste are the most effective and often cost less and have environmental benefits. They are followed by reusing and repairing, remanufacturing and refurbishing, recycling, and, last, burying.
In Canada, this is a shared responsibility. The federal role in supporting the transition to a circular plastics economy rests in the government's market levers and environmental protection authorities. Downstream collection and disposal is the purview of the provinces and territories. Many have regulated producers of plastic packaging and electronics to require them to pay for the collection and recycling of these products through extended producer responsibility regulations. Municipal and regional governments manage public landfills and implement bylaws to increase waste diversion.
The federal government works closely with the provinces and territories, under the aegis of the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment, to implement the Canada-wide Action Plan on Zero Plastic Waste and the strategy that accompanies it.
The CCME action plan contains a broad range of activities, from improving plastic product design to supporting reuse and repair, establishing consistent extended producer responsibility programs across the country, providing support for infrastructure to recover and recycle plastics, and developing standards for recycled content in plastic products.
In addition to collaborating with provinces and territories, the federal government is taking measures to achieve our zero plastic waste goal through innovation, regulations and collaboration with other actors. We have banned certain single-use plastic items where they are harmful to the environment and difficult to recycle. We have committed to requiring labelling of recyclable and compostable plastics to reduce confusion and improve recycling and composting outcomes. We have committed to implementing minimum recycled content requirements for plastic packaging to strengthen end-market demand and supply, and we have launched work to achieve a recycling rate of 90% for plastic beverage containers.
Canada continues to work with other countries as well to tackle plastic pollution. We are advocating for an ambitious, legally binding international agreement to address waste and pollution. If these negotiations are successful, plastic markets around the world will be under even greater pressure to become more circular.
Thank you for giving me the opportunity to talk with you today.
I look forward to answering your questions.