June 22, 2021
Canada’s plastic problem: Sorting fact from fiction
Estimated reading time: 0 minutes
BY: Rachelle Naddaf
Topics: Plastics
Our oceans are facing a plastic crisis. Plastic debris has been found floating on the sea surface, washing up on the world’s most remote coastlines, melting out of Arctic sea ice, sitting at the deepest point of the ocean floor, and in the stomachs of fish, marine mammals and seabirds. It’s everywhere. To make matters worse, the volume of plastic waste is expected to increase four times by 2050.
And yet, here in Canada some people still think that plastic pollution, especially in our oceans, is not a Canadian problem. We recycle, we have good waste management systems, do beach cleanups, and generally we care about the environment. Isn’t plastic pollution being dealt with appropriately?
Unfortunately, the reality is that Canada is a disproportionately large contributor to the growing plastic disaster. Although Canadians make up less than 0.5 per cent of the global population, we use 1.4 per cent of all plastic produced. And Big Plastic – that is, large plastic manufacturers like Dow, Imperial Oil and Nova Chemicals, along with their lobbyists – have sold a narrative to the public for decades that our society needs the convenience of single-use plastic and that recycling is the solution to our plastic waste.
As one of the wealthiest nations with a relatively small population, this is a huge problem made worse by the fact that we only recycle about 8 per cent of our plastic waste. Plastic pollution is harming our oceans, the animals that call them home and even our health. Our government needs to take a leadership role to end the fatal flow of plastics into our oceans. That is why we applauded the federal government’s move to list plastic as Toxic under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA) this spring, and have been pushing for a strong ban on unnecessary single-use plastics.
Let’s dive into this issue and sort some of the fact from fiction. Listed below are some of the comments we’ve heard from people across Canada.
*****
“Plastic waste isn’t a Canadian issue.”
FACT:
- Canadians produce a lot of plastic waste; an estimated 3.3 million tonnes per year.
- About 2.8 million tonnes of plastic waste ends up in Canadian landfills every year – equivalent to the weight of 24 CN towers.
- According to the Canadian government, Canadians use almost 15 billion plastic bags every year and close to 57 million straws every day.
- In Canada, more than one-third of our plastics are created for single-use products or packaging.
“Canadians recycle their plastic waste.”
FACT: About 86 per cent of Canada’s plastic waste ends up in landfill, while a meager eight per cent is recycled. The rest is burned in incinerators, contributing to climate change and air pollution, or ends up in the environment as litter. Additionally, Canada ships a portion of its plastic waste outside of North America to be processed for “recycling”, which far too often results in our waste polluting other countries, rather than being properly recycled.
“Canada doesn’t produce as much plastic waste as other countries. Its their problem, not ours.”
FACT:
Many countries in Asia have become the world’s dumping ground for plastic waste. A portion of Canada’s plastic waste is sent outside of North America to be ‘recycled.’ The majority of this exported plastic waste is sent to countries in Southeast Asia, many of which do not have the proper infrastructure to deal with this waste. , Unfortunately, this results in the plastic either being incinerated or entering the environment. North American and European countries specifically have been sending waste there for decades, but many countries, like China, are now refusing it. Canada is contributing to the plastic problem halfway across the world.
Check out the video below for more on how the western world is driving plastic pollution in Asian countries.
“Plastic is not toxic.”
According to the Canadian Environmental Protection Act – the law the federal government is using to regulate plastics – a substance is ‘Toxic’ if it is entering or may enter the environment in a quantity that has immediate or long-term harmful effects on the environment. Plastic pollution is everywhere and it is wrecking havoc on marine ecosystems and wildlife.
The Canadian government’s own science assessment on plastic pollution determined that plastics – especially packaging and single-use plastics – cause considerable harm to the environment and wildlife. Plastic is not harmless. It deserves to be declared Toxic with a capital ‘T.’
“We can just switch to biodegradable alternatives and bioplastics.”
FACT: Unfortunately, bioplastics present many of the same issues as traditional fossil fuel-based plastics. They are resource-intensive, rely on fossil fuels for production and typically do not rapidly biodegrade under natural conditions – like in the ocean. There are also many different types of bioplastics, which can lead to confusion in the disposal process. For example, a portion of Coca-Cola’s Plant Bottle is made from bio-based materials instead of fossil fuels, but it is chemically the same as a regular plastic pop bottle, meaning it needs to be managed through recycling systems. But other so-called “compostable” bioplastics can contaminate recycling systems since they look like traditional plastics but are chemically very different. When so-called compostable plastics end up in recycling streams they can reduce the value of recycled material, making recycling even less effective. Even worse, the vast majority of bioplastics are not compostable in your backyard composter, meaning they can only be processed in special industrial compost facilities, which are few and far between..
“I don’t live near the ocean, so my plastic doesn’t end up there.”
FACT: Plastic that accumulates in lakes, rivers and other bodies of water may eventually flow out into the ocean. Plastic from overflowing trash cans, litter on the street and waste sitting in landfill can get blown into stormwater sewers or rivers and streams. Additionally, microplastics and microfibres from clothing and textiles are washed down the drain and are often not filtered out at wastewater treatment facilities. This all eventually carries into larger bodies of water, making its way to the oceans.
“Most plastic in the ocean comes from cruise ships or fishing activity.”
FACT: Approximately 80 per cent of plastic that ends up in the ocean comes from land-based sources. The remaining 20 per cent of ocean plastic comes from at-sea sources, which includes both fishing and shipping litter. In fact, a study published in the spring of 2021 – the most comprehensive of its kind to date – revealed that single-use bags, plastic bottles, food containers and food wrappers are the four most widespread items polluting the global ocean. While we do agree that ghost gear is a significant problem affecting our oceans, fishing gear is created with the intention of long-term use and can be very expensive. It is therefore not likely to be intentionally lost or thrown away, and we can’t say the same about single-use plastic products..
“Shouldn’t we focus on cleaning up the plastic that’s already in the oceans?”
FACT: With projections estimating that plastic waste is expected to quadruple in volume by 20504, and oceans covering about 70 per cent of earth’s surface, cleaning ocean plastic presents an almost insurmountable feat. It is also estimated that the cost of cleaning up plastic pollution in the Great Lakes area alone (U.S. and Canada) is about $468 million a year. It doesn’t make good sense to spend millions of dollars every year on a persistent problem, without addressing its root cause. It’s like if your bathtub was overflowing – you wouldn’t run to get a mop first, you’d turn off the tap. To mitigate this problem, we need to stop plastics from getting into our oceans in the first place.
*****
Ensuring our oceans are clean, healthy and plastic-free is the responsibility of everyone in Canada, including companies, governments and consumers, and also requires concerted action from all sectors around the world. Since the oceans do not have boundaries, plastic gets carried far and wide by ocean currents. This is why Oceana launched a global plastics campaign.
We need companies, from multinational corporations to small businesses and local restaurants, to adopt alternatives to single-use plastics; we need the Canadian government to enact strong legislation and regulations that limit or eliminate single-use plastics and ensure they don’t end up in our oceans; and we need members of the public to keep the pressure on governments and corporations to end the threat plastic pollution poses to our oceans.
Oceana Canada is advocating for plastic-free oceans and we need your support to be successful. Add your voice calling on the Canadian government to end the plastic disaster and work toward #ZeroPlasticWaste. You can also join us as a Wavemaker for the latest campaign updates and actions you can take action.
*****
View all references for the facts listed in this blog here.
