Ottawa gave plastics giant $35-million grant
The Liberal government gave $35 million to a chemical company that makes plastic resins just one day before Prime Minister Justin Trudeau promised to use Canada’s G7 presidency to get other nations to commit to reducing or phasing out single-use plastics.
The grant to Nova Chemicals was announced in late January as part of the Strategic Innovation Fund, a $1.26-billion, five-year business growth measure that was unveiled in last year’s federal budget.
The investment is meant to encourage research and development and “secure a long-term commitment to the company’s Joffre, Alta., research and development centre,” said Karl Sasseville, a spokesman for Innovation Minister Navdeep Bains.
“More specifically, Nova Chemicals is using innovative technologies to produce cleaner resources and less undesirable byproducts stemming from production,” Sasseville wrote in an email. “This could mean making products like plastic food packaging stronger and more easily recyclable. This innovation could also be used in products and applications such as small appliances, automobiles, solvents and food and cosmetic additives.”
According to a Jan. 23 news release from the Chemistry Industry Association of Canada, the money is also going toward Nova Chemicals’ $2.2-billion expansion plan in Sarnia, Ont., including a new polyethylene facility and expansion of an existing ethylene facility.
Ethylene is one of the main substances in polyethylene; the expanded plant will allow Nova Chemicals to produce 431,000 additional tonnes of polyethylene a year. Nova Chemicals did not respond to requests for comment Wednesday.
Polyethylene is the world’s most common plastic material. It is largely used to make plastic bags, food wrap and containers such as water and soda bottles, as well as plastic pails, pipes and bins.
An estimated eight million tonnes of plastic garbage ends up in the world’s oceans each year, with single-use plastic food containers among the biggest culprits.