Canada’s plastic waste shipments increased by more than 13% in the year that new rules were implemented to reduce global exports. Most of the plastic waste is headed to the United States without knowing where it ends up.
Steven Guilbeault, Environment Minister, stated that this lackadaisical approach towards exporting plastic waste must stop.
Guilbeault stated in an interview that she was very concerned about the situation and felt that we must do better.
“If we’re shipping plastics aimed at recycling, it’s important to ensure that that happens.” And honestly, it’s not always clear to me. In fact, there have been several instances where it wasn’t.
Guilbeault stated he is currently talking to his officials to determine how to fix the problem. “We’re not doing a very great job right now.”
Canada’s poor record on plastic waste exports attracted international attention in 2019, when garbage shipments that were incorrectly labeled as recyclable plastics led to a diplomatic standoff between Canada and the Philippines.
It put a spotlight upon the global garbage trade. Most of the time, wealthy countries placed their trash on container ships bound to the developing world. There, it ends up in landfills or is burned. This has a wide range of negative environmental and health consequences.
Canada, in the wake of the embarrassment, stated it would cooperate with the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) to stop exports of contaminated material and agreed to amends to the United Nations Basel Convention for hazardous waste that added mixed waste to the substances included within the conventions rules.
This meant that Canada would be restricted from exporting waste to other members of the convention after January 1, 2021. Such exports would require prior consent from the importing country and confirmation of how the waste was disposed.
A few months prior to the amendments coming into effect, Canada quietly signed an agreement that allowed for the free flow of plastic waste between them. This was despite the fact that the United States is not a member of the Basel Convention. The agreement is permissible under Basel rules. However, the U.S. isn’t bound by the convention and can do whatever it pleases with the waste.
The Basel Action Network has collected trade data that shows that more than 340,000,000 kilograms of plastic waste were exported by the U.S. in 2021 to only four countries: India, Indonesia, Vietnam, and Vietnam.
Kathleen Ruff, the head of Right On Canada, which opposes all hazardous waste exports, called the Canada–U. S. agreement is “a huge loophole that violates Basel Convention by allowing US to export huge quantities of plastic and other wastes to the U.S. without any controls to prevent our wastes being shipped to developing countries.”
She stated, “This is not the environment leadership we were promised.”
The Basel Convention plastic amendments were meant to reduce total plastic waste exports. However, Canada’s plastic waste shipments rose by 13% to 170,000,000 kilograms in the 12 months following the amendments were implemented. This is roughly the same weight as 17 billion half-litre plastic containers.
Its total shipments to America totaled 158 millions kilograms. This represents an increase of 16% from 2020 and 92% for total exports.
The total for 2021 is the highest since 2017, when nearly 200 kilograms were exported. Less than 60% of that was to the U.S.
Gord Johns of Vancouver Island NDP, who passed a motion for a national strategy against the plastic pollution, stated that Canada’s record is “horrible.”
He stated that Guilbeault would sign the full Basel Convention Amendment to ban the export of hazardous materials, including plastics, if Guilbeault cares about plastic waste. This would be done with or without the consent from an importing country.
Canada is not one of the 188 Basel Convention Parties that have ratified this amendment.
He said, “Until Canada joins the 100 nations that accept that amendment,” he added. “The amendment makes it illegal to export hazardous materials from Canada to developing nations. I suppose the question is: Why does Canada refuse to join other countries?
