​The Council is proud to be leading and supporting national collaborations to eliminate plastic waste and pollution and accelerate the transition to a circular plastics economy in Canada. Some of the ways the Council is engaging with stakeholders across the country are outlined below

Canada Plastics Pact

 

The National Zero Waste Council is an Implementation Partner of the Canada Plastics Pact (CPP). The CPP brings together businesses, policymakers, and NGOs, that will unite through their shared ambition, combined expertise, collaboration and cooperation, to create national solutions to address plastic packaging waste. The CPP is part of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s global Plastics Pact network, joining other Plastics Pacts in Europe, Africa, North America and Latin America, in a network of national and regional initiatives working towards the vision of a circular economy for plastics. (press release)

The CPP is working towards clear, actionable targets by 2025, including:

1. Define a list of plastic packaging that is to be designated as problematic or unnecessary and take measures to eliminate them by 2025
2. Support efforts towards 100% of plastic packaging being designed to be reusable, recyclable or compostable by 2025
3. Undertake ambitious actions to ensure that at least 50% of plastic packaging is effectively recycled or composted by 2025
4. Ensure an average of at least 30% recycled content across all plastic packaging (by weight) by 2025

By bringing together stakeholders from across the plastic value chain behind a common vision and actionable targets, the CPP has the potential to accelerate new solutions and innovations at speed and scale.

Plastics Advisory Panel

In 2019, the National Zero Waste Council, with the Communauté Métropolitaine de Montréal (CMM), created the Plastics Advisory Panel to provide advice on short-term actions to prevent and reduce plastic waste and single use items. The panel included input from across sectors, but focused on local government perspectives to deal with plastics waste.​

In June 2019, the Plastics Advisory Panel produced a concise report, Regulatory Approaches for Priority Plastic Wastes, that suggested specific regulatory measures that could be implemented to prevent or better manage plastic waste for 10 categories of plastics waste. The report was submitted to the CCME as input into its development of a Canada-wide strategy on Zero Plastic Waste.

• Regulatory Approaches for Priority Plastic Wastes
• Approches réglementaires pour les déchets plastiques prioritaires
  

Reusable Products & Services

Reusable products and services are an alternative to single-use plastic packaging. The uncertainty around the safety of reusable products and services due to COVID-19 triggered a diminished presence of reusables across the retail sector. As a result, the NZWC Product Design and Packaging Working Group sought to better understand the risk of reusables and the long-term implications for their viability.

Opportunities for Reusables in Retail Settings During the COVID-19 Pandemic in Canada provides a science-based analysis and confirms that as long as precautions remain in place, reusable items such as bags, mugs, and refill dispensaries, don’t pose significant risk in terms of transmission of COVID-19, and in fact, can pose significant benefits. The report is authored by a team of experts from the University of Toronto’s Dalla Lana School of Public Health.

• ​​​​Opportunities for Reusables in Retail Settings during the COVID-19 Pandemic in Canada: A review of guidance and evidence

Collaborations