Thank you, Madam Chair.
I would like to thank the witnesses who are joining us for today's study.
My first question is for Ms. Tong.
Thank you for being here, for your opening remarks and for the brief you submitted to the committee. I want to hear from you specifically on what you mentioned about using biodegradable plastics as a solution. I would like to compare what you said with what we heard from other witnesses during our last study, particularly the people from Réseau Environnement and Éco Entreprises Québec. They told us that using biodegradable or compostable plastics causes a number of problems in the recycling system.
Specifically, they said that most composting facilities in Quebec and across the country cannot process compostable packaging and that it ends up in the garbage. Even worse, it could enter the recycling system, where it will actually contaminate plastic bales and, later on, post-consumer resins. They also told us that some bioplastics could spend 428 days in a natural environment without breaking down in the least.
They then added that companies were imposing penalties to encourage people to use other materials, as is done for PVC. They also indirectly pointed out that so-called biodegradable plastic is not really biodegradable. We are seeing that more and more small pieces of plastic, or microplastics, are ending up in the environment and in the human body.
I'm trying to understand all this. You're advocating for the use of biodegradable plastics, and they're opposed to it. Is that science-based? What are your sources for using biodegradable plastics as a concrete alternative to address the plastics recycling problem?