Good afternoon. I'm pleased to be here with you again.
[Translation]
My name is Helen Ryan, and I am the associate assistant deputy minister of the environmental protection branch at Environment and Climate Change Canada.
[English]
I'm joined today by my colleagues Dany Drouin; Nancy Hamzawi, the assistant deputy minister of our science and technology branch; and Jacinthe Séguin.
[Translation]
I understand the focus of the session today is on the questions you have provided, and I am happy to go over them with you. We have also submitted written responses to your questions.
[English]
In the course of your study, you've heard from many stakeholders along the plastics value chain, as well as from environmental organizations. I think you'll agree that the plastic waste question has many different angles and issues associated with it. I look forward to reading the recommendations that you'll put forward in your upcoming report.
From the testimony you've heard, major themes have included the state of the science regarding plastic and marine litter, commitments under the ocean plastics charter, the role of extended producer responsibility, the potential for national standards and requirements, and the federal government's jurisdictional authority to pursue things such as bans or other regulations for things such as single-use plastics.
With respect to the ocean plastics charter, these commitments are voluntary. The charter is not legally binding, and signatories, who are government and industry partners, are invited to implement the objectives and commitments of the charter within their respective jurisdiction and in their areas of influence. About 20 governments and about 60 industries have signed on to the charter to date.
In support of the charter, Canada committed $100 million to support the development of plastic waste solutions in developing countries. The commitment includes support for waste management, funding to spark innovation through the G7 innovation challenge to address marine litter, and public-private partnerships through the World Bank's PROBLUE fund and the World Economic Forum's global plastics action partnership.
As mismanaged municipal solid waste in select developing countries accounts for an estimated 50% to 70% of plastics wastes that are entering the world's ocean and needs in the order of U.S. $5 billion annually to help achieve the ambitious reductions we're targeting, this financial commitment we have put forward remains modest.
You've asked for clarification on the European Union's recent targets on plastic waste and how they compare with the targets set in the the ocean plastics charter. In June 2018, the European Union endorsed the EU strategy for plastics in a circular economy. The strategy includes targets for design of products and packaging for reuse and recyclability, and improving the uptake of recycled content in new products.
[Translation]
The European Union ecodesign directive also sets out rules and requirements for environmental performance of products, many of which include plastics.
[English]
More recently, the consideration of a single-use plastics directive intends to target specific products designated as major contributors to marine litter in the EU context. The ocean plastics charter takes a comprehensive approach rather than focusing on specific products, committing to targets for both single-use and durable plastics.
The commitments made by the EU do not surpass the commitments made in the charter, as their scope is slightly different. However, the legal nature of the EU plastics directive can help to ensure stricter compliance by countries to help meet their targets.
[Translation]
As we work with our provincial and territorial counterparts in the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment, actions by other jurisdictions are references to inform federal actions.
[English]
Regarding the commitment of the provinces and territories under the 2009 Canada-wide action plan for extended producer responsibility—EPR—the provinces and territories have made uneven progress in implementing phase 1 and have not moved beyond limited measures for the plastic products covered under phase 2. This means that the biggest source of plastic waste, which is packaging, is subject to some form of recycling program under EPR in only five provinces, with B.C. being the only jurisdiction coming close to offering recycling for a broad number of plastic packaging products.
However, it should be noted that nearly all provinces have a deposit return system for plastic drink bottles, which results in about 70% recovery of these bottles nationally.
[Translation]
We have provided a table with our written responses that gives more detail on the programs offered by the different provinces and territories.
You also asked us about options for federal regulation of plastic products in the context of single-use plastics, EPR programs, recycling targets, or deposit-return schemes.
[English]
The federal government first needs to access appropriate regulatory powers to do this. To gain this access, plastics, or a subset of plastics, must be added to schedule 1, which is our list of toxic substances under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act. Regulatory measures under CEPA could then be proposed where the science warrants action because of the harmful effects on the environment or danger to human health.
ECCC has used voluntary environmental performance agreements with industry sectors to achieve release targets or meet environmental quality objectives in other areas. These require negotiations with industry sectors to complete. They are non-binding, but they could be options for a variety of other products containing plastic, such as durable goods.
So we have flexibility in the tools available to us, both our regulatory ones—if we add an element of plastics to our list of toxic substances—and our voluntary ones.
[Translation]
Some provinces, such as P.E.I., and municipalities, such as Victoria, B.C., are breaking ground by using their authorities to ban plastic bags, takeout containers, and some single-use products.
[English]
I hope this information is useful to the committee, and I'd be happy to answer any further questions you may have.
Thank you again for your contribution to our understanding of plastic waste and the options for its management in Canada.
[Translation]
Thank you very much.
I would like to thank the witnesses for being here. We are seeing each other more regularly and are going to become neighbours, if not friends. We are going to build relationships. Let's stop here for now and see how things go from there.
Some witnesses have told members of this committee that there is a problem. Everyone around the table here agrees that plastic is a problem. I understood from your presentation, Ms. Ryan, that there is a jurisdictional problem, but I think the problem is bigger than that.
Plastics must be a priority, and not just at the territorial, provincial and national level. We must look at this major problem in a global way. Canada, from east to west, collects a lot of plastic that it does not control. It's people from other countries who are polluting the planet. We must go beyond provincial and federal regulations.
What is the best advice you could give to us legislators so that there are concrete results? What would allow us to measure the results so that, at last, we can begin to have the hope of cleaning our planet of plastic?
:
Thank you for your question.
The problems of plastic waste affect us all. I wouldn't say it's a jurisdictional problem, but rather that municipalities, provinces, territories, the federal government, countries, industry and consumers must contribute and each have a role to play.
Initiatives have been taken internationally as part of the ocean plastics charter. Several countries are joining us in meeting this challenge, and it will require concerted action by all countries.
[English]
We're just coming out of a triple-COP meeting, and at the Basel Convention we worked together with other countries to put forward amendments that were agreed to, with the addition of taking action to strengthen the control of the transboundary movement of certain plastic waste. We've all collectively and internationally agreed to this. I think it's those kinds of collective action and domestic action that are happening. It's the action by individuals, both at home and abroad, that's going to help us resolve this issue and achieve the targets we're looking for of zero plastic waste.
:
I do appreciate that. The discussion point that I'm trying to raise here is that we ought not to be focusing so much on the plastics charter commitments. Rather, we ought to be focusing on the highest standards established in other jurisdictions, so that we can confidently tell Canadians, “We're doing everything that we possibly can on this plastics issue.”
I'll point out a few examples that I've uncovered with assistance from our team. The EU has indicated that all plastics will be reusable or recyclable by 2030, whereas the charter says that all plastics will be reusable, recyclable or recoverable by 2030. Recoverable means they can incinerate them, which is already 100% possible. That can be done.
For another example, the EU bans at least 10 categories of single-use plastics. There are no bans identified in the charter. The EU identifies specific requirements for recycled content, for example, having 25% recycled plastic in PET bottles by 2025. The ocean plastics charter says, “Working with industry towards increasing recycled content by at least 50% in plastic products where applicable by 2030.” The EU indicates there is extended producer responsibility for fishing gear and tobacco filters, but there's nothing on that in the ocean charter.
I'm putting these out there and would be really interested to hear the department's response to these distinctions. I think that Canadians will want to know whether we're going to the highest standard or to a globally negotiated, slightly lower common denominator. Also, of course, you know that industry is heavily involved in the charter.
To be quite frank with you, your testimony gives me the impression that the department has many more than two irons in the fire. In other words, it has a lot of files to manage.
Has the department currently taken the necessary steps? Has it allocated the staff and funds necessary to achieve concrete results, not in the short term, but in the medium term? I feel that you are full of good will, but that you have arms full and are trying to catch up.
Is implementing measures to quickly reduce the use of plastic a priority for the department? If so, this implies that plastic production will decrease and that it will reduce the amount of GHGs. It's a cycle. It's basic, but it's still a reality.
Does the department intend to dedicate the necessary staff and effort to achieve this?
:
Thank you for the question.
It's a priority for our department and our , as indicated in her mandate letter.
[English]
Dealing with putting forward a strategy, working collaboratively with provinces and territories to put in place a Canada-wide strategy on zero plastic waste, is one of the mandate letter's priorities. The department is focusing attention and moving forward on that.
As I mentioned, last November, ministers came together and agreed to the strategy at their CCME meeting. There will be an action plan for the first phase of the strategy put forward to ministers again at their meeting in June.
In addition, there have been a number of targeted activities that have happened internationally in support of the ocean charter commitments, including some very important investments that have been made to support not only innovation but also recycling capacity in other countries, and a strong collaboration to move forward. There is a whole-of-government initiative that's happening. There's work going on with the Department of Fisheries and Oceans, for instance, with Treasury Board, in tackling government operations, to mention but a few.
:
That takes us to the end of the two rounds of time that we'd scheduled.
We are a bit ahead of schedule. I do want to go into our committee business because there are a few thing that we need to talk about, but does anybody have any last questions? I'm happy to go once around each side if anybody has an unanswered question that we haven't got to yet.
While they're thinking about it, I had a question or a point of clarification. I think Sarah may have raised it before we started.
Question 4 relating to the scale of the ocean plastic problem notes that on average about eight million tonnes of plastic waste enters the oceans from land every year worldwide. Further on, under the same question, it notes that some 150 million tonnes of plastics ends up in the oceans annually.
Those are quite different numbers. I don't know which is the true number or what the sources are. We don't need to know now, unless somebody actually knows what that annual amount is. I was trying to figure out if there was nuance in the material, that if one were perhaps land-based versus rivers-based. What is the magnitude of the problem we're up against?
:
Thank you for the question.
It's one of the things my colleagues at Public Services and Procurement Canada are working on.
[English]
There are two things. One, we are putting in place a policy within Environment and Climate Change Canada—and we hope to have that policy in place by the summer—that will deal with the purchases that we make within our department and the nature of the materials we can use, including the use of single-use plastics.
The Government of Canada is also putting in place directives for all of the government operations, including the specifications for our procurement requirements. It is also looking at its building and lease facilities in terms of putting in place requirements there as well.
There has been a commitment made to divert 75% of plastic waste by 2030 from federal government operations, and that's supported by our greening government strategy. There's a commitment as well to eliminate unnecessary use of single-use plastics in government operation events and meetings, and there's specific guidance that is rolling out with respect to that.
Then there are also procurement strategies targeting sustainable procurement, so that we're using our buying power not only to influence what we purchase, but also, then, to influence what others purchase as well. That's going on as well.
:
That ends the data- or information-gathering for this brief study that we've done.
I'd like to thank the departmental officials for the knowledge they've brought to the table and their openness to being here twice during this particular study. It's always a pleasure to see you, and thank you once again.
For the members, I'm going to suspend now for a moment while we clear the room. We're going into a closed session, with the first order of business to be our drafting instructions, per the notice of meeting. Then there's some other committee business that we need to deal with.
So, I'll suspend. But members, please don't leave, and your staff are welcome to stay. Otherwise, everybody else can head off, and thank you so much for being here.
[Proceedings continue in camera]