Science and Research Committee on Sept. 19th, 2024

[The Chair, Liberal, Valerie Bradford]

I call this meeting to order.

Welcome to meeting number 96 of the House of Commons Standing Committee on Science and Research.

I'd like to remind all members of the following points.

Please wait until I recognize you by name before speaking. All comments should be addressed through the chair. Members, please raise your hand if you wish to speak, whether participating in person or via Zoom. Thank you all for your co-operation.

I'd like to welcome MP McLean today, who's subbing in for MP Ben Lobb.

Pursuant to Standing Order 108(3)(i) and the motion adopted by the committee on Thursday, May 23, 2024, the committee resumes its study of innovation, science and research in recycling plastics.

It's now my pleasure to recognize and welcome, as an individual, Dr. Mohammad Arjmand, assistant professor, University of British Columbia. We have, by video conference, Allen Langdon, chief executive officer, Circular Materials. From Éco Entreprises Québec, we have Charles David Mathieu-Poulin, lead, governmental and external relations.

Welcome to all of our witnesses today.

Up to five minutes are given for opening remarks, after which we will proceed with rounds of questions.

Dr. Arjmand, I invite you to make your opening statement for up to five minutes.

[Mohammad Arjmand, Assistant Professor, University of British Columbia, As an Individual]

Thank you so much.

Hello, everyone. My name is Mohammad Arjmand. I'm an assistant professor and the lead of the plastic recycling research cluster at the University of British Columbia.

I have some important remarks regarding plastics recycling in terms of what I have faced over the last several years in working in this area. Plastic waste and pollution have been acknowledged as the second most important global environmental and social issue in the 21st century, after climate change.

We know that in the Canadian context, according to Environment and Climate Change Canada, over three million tonnes of plastic waste is thrown away. The vast majority ends up in landfills, and about 29,000 tonnes find their way into our natural environment. Plastic waste is a matter of concern for Canadians, given that only 9% of plastic waste is recycled, 12% is incinerated and the remaining 79% is dumped into landfills.

According to the Government of Canada, the government plans to achieve zero plastic waste by 2030. Nevertheless, this challenge is highly reliant on the collaboration of federal, provincial and territorial governments, in conjunction with the public, academia and engaged industry members. As articulated in the Canada-wide action plan by the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment, there are three interrelated themes that should be thought of in this area: One is prevention, the second one is collection and the third one is recovery.

We need to remember that replacing plastics with alternative materials such as glass or metal containers is not an option. It is not an environmentally sustainable solution because they are considerably heavier, thus contributing to higher carbon dioxide emissions during transportation, which might affect our planet.

Canada is working in the area of replacing this plastic waste with bio-based plastics. We have a lot of forests, and we can do a lot of good work in this area. There are a couple of challenges that we need to consider. First, the physical properties we are receiving from bio-based plastics are usually not as good as petroleum-based plastics. That's part number one. Second, the amount of material we are producing through bio-based plastic still cannot compete with the petroleum-based plastics. That's the second problem we have in this area. The third part is the cost, which we need to consider. Still, I believe we have had huge improvements in the area of bio-based plastics, but there is way more to go.

I mentioned that there are three main strategies to tackle plastic waste. One of them is collection. It should be mentioned that over 15% of total generated plastic waste worldwide is collected for recycling. That is 55 million tonnes out of 353 million tonnes. The challenge is that, due to deficient proper collection mechanisms, 30 million tonnes of plastic just can't progress to the next stage, and around 20 million tonnes of plastic are being thrown away or wasted. I don't think that in Canada we are actually doing a much better job compared to the numbers that we have across the world.

There are some strategies being applied right now. They are usually governed by the government. One of them is a deposit refund or buyback to collect the plastics. We need to work more in the area of collecting plastics, but there are more factors to be considered. One of them is the behavioural change that we need to work on with people. Policy-making is very important to consider. There are some other parameters as well, which I have provided in my report. That's part number one, about collecting plastic.

The second part is that even if the plastics are collected, the next step is plastic sorting. Mostly, the plastic sorting right now is being done by human beings. It's not efficient, particularly when we are working on a large scale. European countries have done a very good job, particularly countries such as Finland. They have come up with some robotic systems to improve sorting and separating plastics.

After the sorting, we need to work on other parts, such as decontamination. There are some additives inside the plastic that need to be decontaminated. Sometimes we have adhesives or tags attached, and some of the plastic could be greasy. Cleaning these plastics could actually create a secondary source of pollution as well. I believe this is not established in Canada right now.

Suppose that we can solve this problem to collect the plastics in an efficient way. We can separate the plastics and clean them. Then the third step is recycling. We need to do mechanical recycling, as it is the easiest way of recycling plastics.

Basically, what we do, and what we have done over the last several years in my research group and all across Canada, is reprocess the plastic and convert it into value-added products—

[The Chair, Liberal, Valerie Bradford]

I'm sorry. You're a little over your time.

We'll probably get to the rest of that through the questions.

[Mohammad Arjmand]

Thank you.

[The Chair, Liberal, Valerie Bradford]

Now we will turn to Allen Langdon, who is online.

If you would like to give your statement, go ahead for five minutes, please.

[Allen Langdon, Chief Executive Officer, Circular Materials]

Thank you for inviting me today, Madam Chair and members of the committee.

My name is Allen Langdon. I'm the chief executive officer at Circular Materials.

Circular Materials is a national not-for-profit organization that supports producers across Canada in meeting their obligations under extended producer responsibility regulations for packaging and paper products. This is also known as EPR, which, as a policy approach, is recognized as one of the most effective mechanisms for improving recycling rates. Under this framework, the businesses that supply packaging and paper products are operationally and financially responsible for these materials over their life cycle.

Our mandate is to advance the circular economy and build efficient and effective recycling systems.

One exciting initiative we are developing is a first-of-its-kind material access program, which will return processed material back to producers directly for use as recycled content, new products and packaging. This initiative exemplifies a true circular economy, which keeps plastics looped in the system to be used again and again.

The federal government has set ambitious recycling targets to improve the recycling of plastics in Canada. Supporting investment in infrastructure and innovation nationally is critical for system changes that will effectively enable the recycling of plastic and other material. Most importantly, collaborating with stakeholders in all levels of government on plastic and material management is needed to reach Canada's zero plastic waste plan by 2030.

Our work with partners across the supply chain is helping to advance the circular economy for plastics. Our partnership with the Canada Plastics Pact, for example, helps to scale up investments in infrastructure and innovation.

Recently, with our partners Éco Entreprises Québec and Recycle BC, we issued a request for expressions of interest to identify innovative plastic sorting, mechanical and advanced recycling technologies. We will assess the commercial viability of these technologies to help reintegrate recycled plastics into manufacturing supply chains.

Industry is significantly investing in infrastructure and innovation, but we can't do it alone. A collaborative, cohesive strategy needs to be developed to de-risk investment in the recycling system. A 2019 report commissioned by Environment and Climate Change Canada estimated that $6.5 billion of capital investment is needed to expand the recycling system's capacity and achieve Canada's targets. There has been a decade of public and private sector underinvestment in recycling infrastructure in Canada. Incentives for the private sector are critical for driving innovation, accelerating the scale-up and transitioning to “designed for recyclability” solutions, equipment and technologies.

Supporting pilot and demonstration projects is also a key step towards commercial deployment of modern recycling technologies for sortation and mechanical and advanced recycling.

The Government of Canada has a crucial role to play in supporting the transformation of the country's recycling system. As such, Circular Materials proposes two recommendations for the federal government. One is to incentivize and de-risk private infrastructure investments in innovation and circular plastics projects through existing federal funding programs. The other is to expedite the development of a federal infrastructure and innovation fund that will scale up and commercialize technologies and solutions for the reuse and recycling of plastics.

By investing domestically in recycling infrastructure, Canada can create new, well-paying recycling and manufacturing jobs. Without this collaboration, our economy risks losing these high-value-add investments to other jurisdictions in the U.S. and Europe.

Studies have also shown that a circular economy for plastics and using recycled plastics in new products could result in an annual GHG emission savings of 1.8 megatonnes of carbon dioxide, which would provide further environmental benefits to the country.

Essentially, scaling up investment in infrastructure and innovative technologies is necessary to transition to a circular economy and meet ambitious environmental targets. This cannot happen overnight. A national strategy is needed to ensure the success of a sustainable and thriving future for value-adding plastic materials. Through our continued efforts, we look forward to working with governments and stakeholders to modernize Canada's recycling system. Collaboration is key to driving Canada's circular plastics economy and a more sustainable future.

Thank you for the time to speak. I look forward to answering any of your questions.

[The Chair, Liberal, Valerie Bradford]

Thank you very much.

We'll now turn to our third witness, Mr. Mathieu-Poulin, for five minutes, please.

[Charles David Mathieu-Poulin, Lead, Governmental and External Relations, Éco Entreprises Québec]

Hello and thank you, Madam Chair.

Hello, ladies and gentlemen of the committee.

First, I would like to thank the committee for this invitation to testify on a subject as important and complex as plastics recycling.

Éco Entreprises Québec, or EEQ, is a private, non-profit organization that, since 2005, has represented producers who market packaged products, containers and printed materials in Quebec. Under the principle of extended producer responsibility, or EPR, producers are responsible for developing, implementing and financing the province's recycling system.

In 2022, EEQ was appointed as the designated EPR management organization in Quebec, becoming the leader in the modernization of curbside recycling. As a result, as of January 1, 2025, EEQ will manage the collection, transport, sorting and sale of recyclable materials for the entire province. This new role puts us in a prime position to take a systemic view of issues around plastics, and ensure their sound management at the end of their life cycle.

Our approach to plastics is threefold. Firstly, because of the ambitious recycling targets set by Quebec's regulation, one of the main benefits of EPR is to encourage investment in infrastructure. Unfortunately, in recent years, sorting centre operators have often set aside major investments, aiming instead to sort at a lower cost, even if it means having to export or landfill recyclables such as plastics. As the manager of EPR in Quebec, EEQ is working to catch up with this major technological lag by demanding better performance from sorting centre operators, giving them the means to achieve these ambitious targets, but also by building new high-performance, innovative sorting centres, like the one in Montreal East, which will start operations on January 2, 2025.

In addition, as Mr. Langdon noted, with our colleagues at RecycleBC and Circular Materials, we launched a Request for Expressions of Interest for the Processing of Plastic Packaging, also knows as REOI, in the spring of 2024, with the aim of obtaining information on equipment manufacturers and plastic recyclers in Canada and elsewhere who wish to play an active part in modernizing the system. The information-gathering period is now over and projects are now being analyzed for implementation in 2025.

Secondly, we are also well aware that downstream changes in the system must be accompanied by changes upstream. That's why EEQ has implemented numerous eco-design and eco-modulation initiatives and programs over the past 20 years. In fact, we have a dedicated in-house team that supports producers in changing their packaging and containers for alternatives that are less disruptive to the recycling system. Notably, since 2021, several hundred thousand dollars have been awarded to producers via the Ecodesign Incentive Bonus, which rewards good practices such as source reduction, reuse, local procurement, recyclability and the integration of recycled content. In the coming weeks, we will proudly launch our Ecodesign and Recyclability Guidelines, which will guide producers towards more responsible packaging choices. These guidelines are based on global best practices, while taking into account the on-the-ground reality of recycling in Quebec.

Regarding plastics more specifically, we have also introduced eco-modulation measures in 2024 for certain categories in our tariffs, namely maluses on PVC and on biodegradable and compostable plastics. While the latter are often seen as a solution to certain plastics-related issues, such as ocean pollution, biodegradable and compostable plastics pose a number of challenges for the recycling system. Indeed, given that the vast majority of composting facilities in Quebec and the rest of the country cannot adequately process this packaging, it is often refused in residential compost bins. They end up either in the trash, where their value is lost, or in recycling, where they contaminate plastic bales and, subsequently, post-consumer resins. It is therefore important to consider the indirect effects of the increase in such products.

Finally, EEQ is proud to be a founding member of the Circular Plastics Taskforce, or CPT, whose mission is to create a circular economy for all post-consumer plastics in Canada. Since its founding in 2020, the CPT has carried out a number of research and pilot projects on several important plastics-related issues, such as traceability, food grade, flexible plastics and thermoformed PET. The deliverables of these projects, such as research reports and white papers, have become reference tools within the plastics industry worldwide, giving the Canadian leaders involved an international showcase. We'd also like to thank Environment and Climate Change Canada for the financial support it has provided to the CPT in the past, and hopefully in the future.

In conclusion, there is definite momentum in Canada around the circular economy of plastics, notably due to the multiplication of provincial extended producer responsibility initiatives. Although the arrival of EPR in the majority of Canadian provinces will lead to a series of investments in infrastructure and new technologies, this will not be enough to bring the whole system to scale. To encourage plastics circularity and accelerate the movement already under way, the federal government therefore has an important role to play in encouraging and derisking private investment in plastics recycling, from manufacturing to sorting centres and recyclers. Change on this scale will only happen if we all work together.

Thank you again for your invitation.

[The Chair, Liberal, Valerie Bradford]

You were right on the button. That was great.

Thank you to all three of the witnesses for their opening remarks.

I'll now open up the floor to members for questions. Please be sure to indicate to whom your questions are directed.

Kicking off our questions today will be MP Corey Tochor for six minutes.

[Corey Tochor, Conservative, Saskatoon—University, SK]

Thank you so much.

Thank you to our witnesses.

This is for Mr. Langdon, with the Circular Materials folks.

I found your testimony today very intriguing. There were a lot of common-sense solutions that I think Canadians should be open to. It sounds like a lot of the issues.... We don't have the infrastructure to properly become the plastic superpower that I think we are destined to become if we have the infrastructure for the plastics industry.

I understand that the Canada Infrastructure Bank is not fit for purpose to help our recycling infrastructure. Would that be accurate? Answer yes or no.

[Allen Langdon]

I don't know that I can make a comment on whether it's fit for purpose. The challenge for us is—

[Corey Tochor, Conservative, Saskatoon—University, SK]

Did you have an application? I'm sorry, sir. We have limited time.

Did you guys apply for funding?

[Allen Langdon]

No, we don't have an application. We did not apply for funding.

[Corey Tochor, Conservative, Saskatoon—University, SK]

Okay. Some in the industry are concerned about how it's a large amount of taxpayers' money—$35 billion—to help build the infrastructure that we desperately need in Canada. That is one area where we are additionally disappointed in the Liberals because of how they've mismanaged the Infrastructure Bank. Obviously, infrastructure is a benefit for our planet, our economy and our country, and they are ignoring the plastic infrastructure.

How much of Canada's plastic packaging currently falls under the extended producer responsibility, or EPR?

[Allen Langdon]

That's a great question.

By the end of 2026, every jurisdiction in Canada—except for Newfoundland, the Northwest Territories and Nunavut—will have EPR legislation passed and will be operating under some form of EPR program.

[Corey Tochor, Conservative, Saskatoon—University, SK]

That's good news.

In terms of some of the overlapping regulations and red tape, would you agree that there has not been enough leadership from the federal government to encourage the harmonization of different standards? You talked about all of the different agreements across Canada. It's a patchwork quilt of policies versus a national policy. What are your thoughts on that?

[Allen Langdon]

Definitely, as an organization, we encourage greater harmonization. We think part of the challenge is that the legislative responsibility lies with the provinces. Certainly, there is a role for them going forward in terms of a national strategy, particularly when you talk about infrastructure.

I think that's where all organizations operating in the space are looking for partnerships to be able to, again, de-risk the investments required, because now we have the material. We are going to be collecting the material across the country in the coming years. We need to make sure that we have the appropriate infrastructure to be able to recycle that material.

[Corey Tochor, Conservative, Saskatoon—University, SK]

I'm very encouraged by your answer. I think most logical Canadians want us to become that superpower of plastics recycling.

Knowing where our plastics are and storing them properly is a big part of the battle. There was a private member's bill that my colleague Scot Davidson put forward last session. Are you familiar with it? It would have stopped the heinous act of exporting our waste to other countries, where we have no way of confirming its end use and how it is disposed of.

Are you aware of the private member's bill that was put forward?

[Allen Langdon]

I am aware of the bill at a high level, but not in detail.

[Corey Tochor, Conservative, Saskatoon—University, SK]

Do you agree with the idea of Canada not exporting its waste?

[Allen Langdon]

From a Circular Materials perspective, we're focused on developing domestic markets for the recycling of plastic so that we can more easily transfer it back to our producers for use as recycled content.

I would also add that through the EPR programs, we are all—including Éco Entreprises—putting together very robust attestation and traceability systems so we can make sure that the claims being made about the material we're collecting and recycling can be validated. We find it will be easier if we can establish and maintain robust domestic markets for that material.

[Corey Tochor, Conservative, Saskatoon—University, SK]

I have just a couple of questions at the end. My time is running out.

How have emerging plastic technologies and processes already contributed to a more circular economy? What are the new technologies that would get you excited about plastics recycling in the future?

[Allen Langdon]

I think we're in that process right now.

With our partner Éco Entreprises Québec, we have a request for expression of interest. Right now we're going through a technical analysis of what's been brought forward as possible solutions. By early next year, we'll hopefully have a portfolio of different technologies we want to work with to help us get to that next stage of ensuring we can recycle all of the plastics we're collecting in the various jurisdictions across Canada.

[Corey Tochor, Conservative, Saskatoon—University, SK]

You talked pretty clearly about your plans for the future. Can you be very concise in your vision of how Canada can do more to become a world leader in technology innovation for the circular economy? If you had a magic wand, what is the first thing you want the federal government to change, such as a regulation or support for the infrastructure?

What is the first step that would help us along that path?

[Allen Langdon]

As I said before, I think some investments and partnerships on infrastructure would be a huge step forward. All the other building blocks are starting to slowly fall into place with EPR regulations being passed across the country. If we can develop a national infrastructure strategy to help build out the infrastructure needed, I think that would be a huge step forward in terms of developing a more circular economy for plastics.