Canadian industry association proposes alternatives to plastic bans

Earlier this year, Canada announced proposed legislation that would ban most single-use plastic items, such as checkout bags, straws, stir sticks, six-pack rings, cutlery and foodware, by 2021.

According to the announcement by Canada’s Minister of Environment and Climate Change Jonathan Wilkinson Oct. 7, the nation’s goal is to achieve zero plastic waste by 2030 in an effort to protect the nation’s wildlife and waters as well as reduce greenhouse gas emissions. In addition to banning six single-use plastic items, the proposed legislation proposes improvements to recover and recycle plastic. The government reported in October that its proposed legislation plans to establish recycled-content requirements in products and packaging to drive investment in recycling infrastructure and spur innovation in technology and product design to extend the life of plastic materials.

The Canadian government received comments on the proposed legislation through Dec. 9, and it plans to finalize regulations in 2021.

Elena Mantagaris, vice president of the Plastics Division for the Chemistry Industry Association of Canada (CIAC), says the association expressed some concerns related to the proposed legislation. She says the association submitted its comments related to the proposed legislation before the Dec. 9 deadline.

Mantagaris says CIAC is supportive of the government’s efforts to increase the use of recycled content in products and packaging as well as its proposal to drive investment in recycling infrastructure. However, she adds, CIAC and stakeholders in the plastics industry in Canada are concerned about Canada’s proposed bans on single-use plastic items. She adds that the government also has referred to plastic manufactured items as “toxic,” which she says is concerning.

“First, we don’t think plastics are toxic,” Mantagaris says. “We think the label of toxic is the wrong label. There’s no justification for that label. Beyond that, we think the bans are misguided in so far as many of the products they are proposing to ban can, in fact, be recycled, but we’ve not invested in the technology to actually recycle them.”

Mantagaris notes that the government will place a ban on single-use polystyrene items; however, she adds that some companies in the U.S. and Canada are finding ways to recycle that material, referencing Ineos Styrolution’s plant that is being built near Chicago. “Why would you an something that members have actually invested in advanced technologies needed to recycle plastic that can be recycled?” she says.

CIAC has advised the Canadian government to work with the plastics industry to develop a circular economy for plastic scrap rather than banning materials. “You don’t need to ban plastics,” Mantagaris says. “If we had a circular economy, we would not be having this debate about single-use plastics.”

She adds that CIAC also proposes that the Canadian government put in place extended producer responsibility (EPR) programs to ensure industry pays for and manages recycling systems within provinces rather than municipalities.

“Municipalities don’t have the budgets to develop [recycling] technology, but industry does,” Mantagaris says.

She notes that an EPR system is functioning well in the Canadian province of British Columbia. “They have put in place an extended producer responsibility program that is harmonized across the entire province, which means you have one recycling system paid for by industry and managed by industry. Government sets the targets for recycling and industry has to meet those targets.

She adds, “In British Columbia, because they have a harmonized EPR system, 46 percent of plastics are recycled, while the average across Canada is only 9 percent because everywhere else in Canada, every single municipality has a different recycling system. So, we’ve been working with Ontario and Quebec to support the implementation of extended producer responsibility programs, and we’re also trying to advance that in Alberta, as well. That’s a key first step in helping us put in place circular economy so we can scale up recycling systems.”