Canada’s plastic waste exports increased by more 13 percent in the year after new rules were put into place to limit global plastic waste exports. The bulk of this waste is being shipped to the United States, with no information about its final destination.
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 ship plastics that are aimed to be recycled, we need to make sure that it happens.” It’s not clear to my knowledge that this is always true. In fact, there have been several instances where it wasn’t.”
Guilbeault stated that he is in talks with his officials to find solutions to the problem, “because right now, we’re not doing very well.”
Canada’s history of plastic waste exports has been criticized internationally. In 2019, shipments of garbage that were falsely labeled as plastics for recycling led the country to a diplomatic dispute with the Philippines.
It brought to light the global garbage trade, which saw rich countries placing their trash on containers bound for the developing world. The trash often ends up in landfills, or burned, creating a host of health and environmental problems.
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Canada responded to that embarrassment by pledging to work with the Canada Border Services Agency in order to stop the export of contaminated plastic. It also agreed to amend the United Nations Basel Convention on Hazardous Waste that added mixed plastic waste to the substances that were covered by the conventions rules.
On paper, this meant that Canada could not export waste to any other members of the Convention after January 1, 2021. Canada would need to have prior informed consent from the import country and confirmation as to 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 permitted under Basel rules. But, because the U.S. does not have to adhere to the convention, it can do whatever it wants with the waste.
#Canada must do more for #plastic waste exports: Environment Minister @s_guilbeault. #CDNPoli #Pollution
Trade data collected by the Basel Action Network shows more than 340 million kilograms of plastic waste was exported by the U.S. to just four countries in 2021 — Malaysia, Indonesia, India 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 shipments to America totalled 158 millions kilograms, an increase by 16 percent over 2020 and 92 percent of 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, Vancouver Island NDP MP, successfully passed a motion to establish a national strategy against the plastic pollution. He said that Canada’s record on plastic pollution was “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 among the 188 Basel Convention parties that have ratified the amendment.
He stated that Canada is not bound to the amendment unless it joins the 100 other countries that have accepted it. “And the amendment makes illegal exports of hazardous waste from Canada into developing countries. So, I wonder why Canada is refusing to join the rest.
This report was published by The Canadian Press on March 4, 2022.
