A host of food packaging that presents itself as recyclable is not really recyclable in Quebec, generating confusion among consumers.
“100% recyclable”, “Please recycle”, “Recyclable where facilities allow”: these words found on a lot of food packaging have no value, just like the display of the Möbius loop, the universal symbol of recycling.
Photo Agence QMI, JOEL LEMAY
THE 24 hours found several products that bear this type of labeling, but which are not accepted in the vast majority of Quebec sorting centers and end up in the landfill. What these packaging have in common is that they are made from plastic that is not stretchable.
Jacob Bouchard, VIA sorting center Photo taken from his LinkedIn page
“We can do the test by taking our thumb and pressing on it, if it stretches, it goes into the bin,” explains Jacob Bouchard, spokesperson for Société VIA which operates five sorting centers, including in Lachine and Quebec. Those who do not stretch are not accepted at the sorting centers because there is no market for them.”
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When they are placed in the bin by mistake, these packages which arrive at the sorting center are simply discarded and sent to the landfill.
Recyclable for real
In theory, everything is recyclable, underlines the expert in residual materials management Grégory Pratte, but we do not necessarily write the word “recyclable” on all our consumer objects.
“There is a big difference between “recyclable” and “recyclable for real,” he says. It depends on the treatment of the material, the recovery channel, the recycler, the outlet: does it exist? It’s theoretically recyclable, but does it go in the bin? No.”
“One day, there will be outlets, but the truth is that we must reduce our consumption of this type of packaging while waiting for a solution,” he believes.
No control
If we see so many Möbius loops and mentions of recyclability on packaging that is not really recyclable in Quebec, it is because their use is not regulated.
“There is no police who will go and check if we have the right to put the Möbius or if the communication is misleading,” explains Geneviève Dionne, director of ecodesign and circular economy at Éco Entreprises Québec.
“We do not have a framework that ensures that we have a police force greenwashing in Quebec nor in Canada,” underlines the one who speaks of a far west of the packaging.
“I could tattoo a Möbius on my forehead and I wouldn’t be fined,” she imagines.
In France, when it is impossible to recycle a product or packaging on the territory and in compliance with certain parameters, the mention of recyclability has been prohibited since 2023.
Three examples of products that lure customers
DAINTY RICE
On the back of this bag of rice, we see the words “100% recyclable” and “25% recycled” as well as the number 4, used to identify the type of resin. It is decorated with green leaves and a short text explaining that this packaging is a “green step towards zero waste”.
Dainty assures us that its packaging is “100% recyclable”, but admits to being aware of a “huge lack of infrastructure in the field of plastic recycling” in Quebec.
Courtesy photos
GRANOLAS OATBOX
On the back of this bag of granola, we see the Möbius loop and the words “100% recyclable”. There is no resin code there.
Oatbox expressed concern about our revelations. The company says it recently changed its packaging type to one that costs more and is supposed to be more easily recyclable.
Courtesy photos
CLICK COUSCOUS
The back of this couscous bag reads “Please Recycle” and resin code number 7.
AGT Aliments, owner of the CLIC brand, claims to be unaware that its packaging is not recyclable in Quebec, but also mentions studying more easily recyclable packaging options.
Courtesy photos
It is prohibited to mislead the consumer
In Quebec, the Consumer Protection Act (LPC) prohibits deceiving the consumer “by any means whatsoever”. It can apply to false or misleading representations about the environmental characteristics of a product’s packaging, confirms the Consumer Protection Office (OPC).
No company has been convicted due to claims about the recyclability of a product or packaging under this law.
Collective action
Joey Zukran, attorney Photo Agence QMI, Elizabeth Ménard
Joey Zukran, lawyer at LPC Avocats, is leading a fight to demonstrate that it is misleading to present an item as recyclable if it is not recyclable in the territory where it is sold.
He is currently leading a pan-Canadian collective action request against Dollarama, Rona, the SAQ, Giant Tiger, Toys “R” Us, Costco, Metro and McKesson for selling shopping bags presented as recyclable when they were not. not in Canada.
“It would be illegal to display a symbol on a container or packaging which indicates that it is recyclable when the sorting centers do not recycle it,” he believes. The trader who engages in such a practice is exposed to civil proceedings, administrative or even criminal penalties,” he said.
A consumer who feels wronged can file a complaint with the OPC.
In 2022, the coffee company Keurig was ordered to pay $3 million, under a federal law, for having presented its disposable coffee capsules as recyclable when they were not accepted by selective collection in several Canadian provinces.
An open secret
Flexible plastics that do not stretch mostly end up in landfills, but Éco Entreprises Québec and RECYC-QUÉBEC will not tell you, which adds even more to the confusion.
On the RECYC-QUÉBEC website, the reference in the field, there is no distinction between bags that stretch (and can be recycled) and those that do not stretch. It is easy to believe that all flexible plastic packaging numbered 1 to 7 can be placed in the bin and will therefore be recycled.
When we directly ask Éco Entreprises Québec, the organization designated by the government to manage selective collection, if plastic packaging that does not stretch is recyclable at the moment, it is difficult to get a clear answer.
Geneviève Dionne, Éco Entreprises Québec Photo taken from his LinkedIn page
“Currently, the outlets are not mature,” mentions Geneviève Dionne, director of ecodesign and circular economy. But it is not because the opportunities are not mature that they should not be placed in the bin. To be able to develop a mature sector, it takes a deposit,” she says.
A simple visit to the websites or Facebook pages of the 23 sorting centers in Quebec confirms that this type of packaging is not accepted in a majority of them.
Residual materials management specialist Grégory Pratte, who worked in a sorting center for nine years, speaks of an “open secret”.
Expected reform
Why is it so complicated to get the correct time? Partly because Éco Entreprises Québec is preparing to reform selective collection.
As of 1er January 2025, the practices of all sorting centers will be harmonized and anything that is a container, printed matter or packaging, stretchable or not, must be placed in the blue bin.
Will packaging that is difficult to recycle at present actually be recycled from this date? At this point, there is nothing to believe this.
“We are in the process of transforming practices,” argues Geneviève Dionne. Our objective is to not put anything in landfill, so it is to find ways to recycle packaging that will be difficult to recycle by looking at other forms of recovery,” she says.
But, for now and until proven otherwise, most of them are headed to the dump.