Halifax G7 meeting to promote ocean plastics charter to UN, business: McKenna

HALIFAX — A G7 ministers meeting in Halifax will promote the Canadian-led oceans plastic charter, with Ottawa planning to take the accord to the United Nations General Assembly, says the federal environment minister.

The non-binding accord was agreed-to by five of the G7 leaders and the European Union at the G7’s Charlevoix summit in June, though neither the United States nor Japan have signed on yet. But the agreement needs wider international acceptance to stop the use of the oceans as open dumps, with over half of the waste coming from Asian nations who aren’t G7 members.

Environment Minister Catherine McKenna said in an interview Monday the ocean plastics charter will be among the key features of the three-day Halifax gathering that begins Tuesday, as Canada wraps up its presidency of the G7.

“We know plastic ... is literally choking our lakes and rivers and we have to take steps to stop that or we’ll have more plastic pollution than fish by 2050,” she said from Ottawa.

Canadians remain among the most wasteful people in the world, with 25 million tonnes of waste ending up in landfills in 2014 alone. McKenna said she’s talking to businesses about how waste can become an asset.

“We’re throwing out to $150 billion (in plastic waste), which doesn’t make any sense,” she said.