Thank you, Madam Chair.
I'd like to welcome the witnesses who are with us today.
Mr. Drouin, I read Statistics Canada data and a study conducted in 2019. From what I read, Canada produced or imported 7.1 million tonnes of plastic in 2020, which is a 28% increase over 2012. This is no trivial matter. Packaging accounted for nearly one third of the plastic used, and construction plastics accounted for one fifth. That same year, nearly five million tonnes of plastic were thrown into landfills. About a sixth was recycled, but the data doesn't show how much was actually recycled or how much ended up in the landfill.
That same study, done for the federal government, found that less than one tenth of plastic waste in Canada is recycled. That's one in ten. In school, that kind of mark does not pass muster.
What has the federal government done to address this deplorable situation?