Canada Plastics Pact releases ‘Roadmap to 2025’

Connector October 2021

Ambitious action plan unites key players behind a shared vision for a circular economy for plastics packaging in Canada

More than 70 leading businesses, governments and organizations including the Recycling Council of Alberta have come together to release an ambitious action plan to eliminate plastic waste through the Canada Plastics Pact. Roadmap to 2025: A shared action plan to build a circular economy for plastics packaging represents unprecedented cross-value chain collaboration, uniting key players behind a shared vision for a circular economy for plastics packaging in Canada and a targeted plan to drive tangible change by 2025.

Industry, NGOs 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 developed the action plan.

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:

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.

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:

  1. Define a list of plastic packaging to be designated as problematic or unnecessary and take measures to eliminate them.
  2. 100% of plastic packaging being designed to be reusable, recyclable or compostable.
  3. 50% of plastic packaging is effectively recycled or composted.
  4. 30% recycled content across all plastic packaging.

To learn more about the Roadmap, visit https://roadmap.plasticspact.ca or register for Building a Circular Economy for Plastics Packaging in Canada: Introduction to the CPP Roadmap on November 23, 2021, 2:00-3:00 pm ET (12:00-1:00 pm Mountain Time)