Canada urged to recycle 85% of plastics by 2025

OTTAWA • Dozens of environmental groups say if Canada wants to be a leader in getting the world to kick its plastics habit, it has to start by setting the bar far higher at home.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau wants this week’s G7 leaders summit in Quebec to include the signing of an anti-plastics charter, setting international targets to cut down on the use of plastics and finding ways to include more recycled materials in the plastics we do use.

Estimates show up to 10 million tonnes of plastic garbage ends up in the oceans each year, and across the oceans there are multiple islands of trash, including one in the Pacific that rivals the size of Quebec.

The G7 plastics strategy is to have four main components: targets for reducing the amount of plastic waste produced around the world, domestic strategies to meet those targets, working with industry to develop better products to replace plastic or make plastics more easily recyclable, and assistance for the developing world to adapt better waste management. But Canada is going into the G7 without a national plan to address plastics, and more than 40 nongovernmental organizations released a declaration on Monday calling on Trudeau to set national targets for how much plastic Canadians should recycle and what percentage of new products should be made from recycled materials.

“We’re challenging the Canadian government to work with provinces, territories, Indigenous governments, municipalities, to put together a plan to ensure that Canada achieves zero plastic waste,” said Ashley Wallis at Environmental Defence, one of the groups that signed the declaration.

By 2025, the groups want Canada to get its plastic recycling rate to 85 per cent of single-use plastic items like water bottles and take-out containers. Currently Canadians recycle about 11 per cent of all plastics.