Canada hopes to move closer to a binding international treaty to eliminate plastic pollution by 2040 during the fourth United Nations negotiating session which opens in Ottawa on Tuesday. He sent a first signal Monday, on the occasion of Earth Day, with the creation of a federal register on plastics in order to oblige manufacturers to report annually on their production.
What there is to know
Canada is hosting the fourth round of United Nations negotiations to eliminate plastic pollution by 2040.
The Minister of the Environment, Steven Guilbeault, sent a first signal on Monday by announcing the creation of a federal register on plastics.
The UN estimates that 37 million tonnes of plastic pollution could end up in the oceans each year by 2040.
“This register will force plastic manufacturers to assume greater responsibility for the plastics they put on the market,” explained the Minister of the Environment, Steven Guilbeault, at the kickoff of the event.
“Every year, from now on, they will have to declare the quantity and types of plastics they market in the country,” he added to an audience of delegates.
Manufacturers will also need to specify how these plastics circulate in the economy and how they manage them at the end of their useful life. This includes how much is reused or recycled and how much is simply thrown in the trash. This information will allow the government to measure progress made and gaps to be corrected as part of the Pan-Canadian Action Plan to achieve zero plastic waste.
PHOTO SEAN KILPATRICK, THE CANADIAN PRESS
Steven Guilbeault, Minister of the Environment
Our message is simple: Canada is determined to accelerate its domestic and international efforts to respond to the current plastic pollution crisis.
Steven Guilbeault, Minister of the Environment
It focuses above all on the circular economy which consists of producing goods with fewer resources, then reusing, repairing and recycling them to reduce waste production. In Canada, only 9% of the 4 million tonnes of plastic waste were recycled in 2019, according to the federal Ministry of the Environment.
Ten key elements
The register will initially target plastic packaging, electronic gadgets and single-use items and will subsequently include plastic resins, tires and plastic products for agriculture.
“The truth is that plastic production and waste will triple by 2060 if nothing is done,” Minister Guilbeault pointed out a few hours later at a press conference.
We now estimate that 37 million tonnes of plastic pollution could enter our oceans each year by 2040. We have no time to waste.
Steven Guilbeault, Minister of the Environment
Five months after their last meeting in Kenya, negotiators from 175 countries are meeting in Ottawa to advance a binding global treaty to end plastic waste as part of the fourth United Nations Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee (INC-4). This new round of negotiations will take place until Monday April 29.
The director of the UN environment program, Inger Andersen, has identified 10 elements that countries must agree on to reach an ambitious agreement:
- set clear and measurable objectives, limited in time
- eliminate single-use plastics
- rethinking plastic products, including packaging
- establish an extended producer responsibility regime to make them responsible for managing the end of life of their products
- strengthen recycling
- finding alternatives to toxic chemicals in plastics
- emphasize transparency and accountability
- find public and private sources of funding
- ensuring a just transition for waste pickers in the Global South
- tackling plastic pollution in oceans and coasts
“These are the elements on which I want to see progress over the coming days,” she insisted. This is what we need to focus on to be able to deliver what we promised. »
Shared responsibility
The objective is to reduce the draft text of the 77-page treaty by identifying points of convergence between the parties while avoiding weakening it.
Minister Steven Guilbeault expressed the hope that delegates would agree on 70% of the treaty and then reach an agreement during the fifth and final round of negotiations, scheduled for South Korea in November.
Greenpeace Canada welcomed the creation of the federal register on plastics and expressed the hope that CIN-4 would lead to “a legally binding objective of reducing plastic production” by at least 75% by 2040. The Canadian Chemical Industry Association had not responded at the time of writing.
Quebec Minister of the Environment, Benoit Charette, was on hand to participate in the launch of a subnational coalition alongside Catalonia. “We know that the federated states have their responsibilities, but when it comes to the management of residual materials, it is often the cities, provinces and states that have this challenge on a daily basis,” he said. recalled. So, it’s important that they can have their say. »
He also had a meeting with his federal counterpart, who is still waiting for his strategy to protect the caribou and has not commented on the new plastics register.
With The Canadian Press and Agence France-Presse