The Roadmap was developed through the engagement of leading industry, NGO, and public sector organizations, including brands, retailers, recyclers, resin producers, nonprofits, associations, governments and others who together account for over a third of the plastics packaging on the market in Canada. These leading organizations are collaborating to realize a circular economy for plastics where we eliminate the plastics we don’t need, and innovate so the plastics we do need can be reused, recycled or composted to be kept in the economy and out of the environment.
“Our take-make-waste approach to plastics is no longer viable. Plastic packaging is a vital part of daily life, it is high-performing, lightweight, and low cost; but currently, over 85% of what we produce in Canada each year gets used once and ends up in landfills or the environment,” says George Roter, Managing Director of the CPP. “Canadians, our governments, and our businesses have had enough of plastic waste. The Roadmap is designed to comprehensively address this problem quickly and together, and sets forth both coordinated individual business actions and the system changes that are needed into a single agenda, with ambitious targets for 2025.”
The Roadmap presents a full picture of what is needed to aggressively advance action and what can be done next to achieve a circular economy for plastics packaging through three strategic priorities for 2025:
- Reduce, reuse, collect: Eliminate unnecessary and hard to recycle plastics. Drive innovation for reuse and refill models. Innovate to prevent waste from being created in the first place. Improve collection and recycling systems.
- Optimize the recycling system: Packaging design standards to improve recyclability. Investments in new infrastructure. Address supply and demand issues to incorporate recycled resins. Ensure government policy is in place and well-designed.
- Use data to improve the whole system: Create standard definitions and measurement practices. Drive investment in better real-time data and monitoring.
Currently, we are throwing valuable materials away and there is significant material loss between the plastics that are generated to that which is collected, sorted and actually recycled. Innovation in technology and business models that will be generated through achieving a circular economy for plastics packaging will capture economic value, deliver jobs, and position Canadian businesses competitively.
“Creating a future that is free of plastic waste demands collaboration, and the multi-stakeholder effort that went into developing the CPP Roadmap gives me confidence that we can now make the essential steps to catalyse and create a circular economy for plastics,” said David Hughes, President and CEO of The Natural Step Canada. “We are excited to be working alongside other CPP Partners and leading organizations across Canada’s plastics value chain to turn our ambitious targets into action, and achieve together more than any one organization can do by acting alone. These are system-wide problems that require system-wide solutions.”
The CPP is following the ambitious precedents set in the Roadmaps of other Pacts across the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s global Plastics Pact Network to bring globally aligned direction and responses to plastic waste and pollution. The Roadmap will accelerate progress towards the CPP’s four 2025 targets for plastics packaging and waste which Partners of the CPP are required to report on annually. These are:
- Define a list of plastic packaging to be designated as problematic or unnecessary and take measures to eliminate them.
- 100% of plastic packaging being designed to be reusable, recyclable or compostable.
- 50% of plastic packaging is effectively recycled or composted.
- 30% recycled content across all plastic packaging.
The Roadmap will play a pivotal role in uniting stakeholders for progress towards a circular economy for plastics packaging. CPP looks forward to working with existing and new Partners to drive the collaboration necessary for this critical change and invites others across the value chain to join the CPP to be part of this important work.
