NGOs call on Canada to eliminate all non-essential plastic products and materials

HEJSuport, Canadian Environmental Law Association, Toronto Environmental Alliance, and Citizen’s Network on Waste Management recommend that Canada’s approach to plastic should include the following objectives:

1. Reduce plastic production and ban all non-essential single-use plastics

2. Support reuse systems and infrastructure

3. Require that plastic products be free from toxic additives

4. Promote a safe toxic free circular economy that does not lead to recirculation of toxic chemicals and contaminated materials

5. Make companies fully responsible for the entire life cycle of their products

We recommend that Canada:

• Expands the approach to consider toxic substances and additives associated throughout the lifecycle of plastic manufactured items rather than the current approach to address them in a separate approach.
• Develops a regulation to prepare, adopt, and regularly revise a legally binding phase-out list of hazardous chemicals in plastic materials and products, including packaging to be used by producers. The list of hazardous substances should include, and not be limited to, polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs); cadmium; lead; short chain chlorinated paraffins (SCCPs) commonly used as softeners in plastics; bisphenol A (BPA) used in polycarbonate bottles, as well as tin lining; and PFAS used to resist water and grease in food packaging.
• Ensures that proposed integrated management approach to plastic products uses the above-mentioned phase-out list to address the toxic substances or additives along the lifecycle of designated plastic materials and require producers to disclose any use and presence of toxic substances in their products

Read our comments and recommendations to the Discussion paper on PROPOSED INTEGRATED MANAGEMENT APPROACH TO PLASTIC PRODUCTS TO PREVENT WASTE AND POLLUTION

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