You are correct. It is a multi-jurisdictional patchwork. I think that was also exemplified by Circular Materials earlier today.
I will say, though, that there are good instances where provinces are leading. Then, by contrast, their neighbours are falling behind. Alberta regulates the standard design of beverage containers. For that reason, they have very good recycling and recapture rates. They also add on a handling or deposit fee. Saskatchewan is also extremely good at it. Manitoba does not have it. Ontario just rejected it. They have terrible recycling rates. In Quebec, you can go to any return depot, regardless of material, alcoholic or not, and you can bring it back.
This notion of ecodesign is happening, but it's not national. You've heard asks from industry, the Canada Plastics Pact and national recyclers for a unified or harmonized plan. This is the obstacle in a large country, geographically. There are a lot of instances where, if you want to have co-operative recycling and collection systems, it may actually be more feasible for Ontario and Quebec to share resources with Maine, New York or Pennsylvania, rather than keeping it completely in Canada and shipping it all the way to British Columbia or Saskatchewan. That is something we have to take into account. An international plastics treaty can help with that. CUSMA can help with that, but we need to know what is in our market.
If we want to have recycled content, we need to recapture our own materials and integrate that, but we need to do it in a healthy and safe manner. We're finding that everyday plastic chemicals in a lot of these materials are inhibiting recyclability. Ecodesign is not just about the material. It is about what is unknown in the product right now: dyes, additives and bisphenols. A lot of single-use plastic materials have PFAS, bisphenols and things that are endocrine-disrupting. It's not just in single-use plastic straws. It's in forks, takeout containers and overwrap. We should be more transparent and truthful with consumers about what they are interacting with, especially high-priority materials they are interacting with: clothing, food packaging, baby toys and baby food, very specifically.
There needs to be more transparency. It's not that national harmonization can come through that, but there is a jurisdictional play. I think co-operation would be encouraged.