Ministers agree to halve our garbage

OTTAWA — Canada’s environment ministers want to cut in half the amount of garbage this country produces, in a little over two decades.

By 2030, they want to reduce the total amount of waste Canada throws out by 30 per cent; by 2040, they want to cut the quantity by 50 per cent. And as part of a national strategy to curb plastic pollution in particular, Ottawa and the provinces unanimously agreed to work on a plan to have Canada produce no waste plastic at all.

Much of the garbage Canadians send to landfills and incinerators, after recycling and composting and all the other forms of diversion, is plastic. “Plastic pollution is a major challenge for the health of our oceans, our lakes and our rivers,” said federal Environment Minister Catherine McKenna, speaking to reporters after the two-hour teleconference with her provincial counterparts.

The meeting was supposed to be held face to face in Ottawa, but was downgraded first to a video conference and later a conference call. Federal officials cited scheduling conflicts that kept some ministers from being there in person; behind the scenes, the tension between Ottawa and some provinces over carbon pricing is said to be a factor. McKenna said the focus of the meeting was plastics, not climate change, and said she was glad that the ministers could put other differences aside to find agreement on something else.