Press release - February 1, 2018
January 25, 2018 (VANCOUVER) - In response to Prime Minister Trudeau’s announcement at the World Economic Forum that he intends to bring forward the issue of ocean protection “particularly around plastics and pollution”, Greenpeace Canada’s campaigner Laura Yates said:
January 25, 2018 (VANCOUVER) - In response to Prime Minister Trudeau’s announcement at the World Economic Forum that he intends to bring forward the issue of ocean protection “particularly around plastics and pollution”, Greenpeace Canada’s campaigner Laura Yates said:
“We welcome the Prime Minister’s initiative and are happy to learn that the plastics issue will be a main theme at the G7 leaders’ summit in Charlevoix, (Quebec). This finally gives Canada a voice on the plastics pollution issue. Nonetheless, Canada lags behind other leaders in Europe such as the UK who started the year by announcing and setting targets and timelines to counter the ocean plastics’ crisis.
Consulting with global companies - which should be held accountable - is a step in the right direction, but it’s not enough. Greenpeace has been calling on these companies to rethink how they deliver goods to their customers and extend their responsibility beyond point of sale yet they continue to sidestep the issue. Global soft drinks giant Coca-Cola released its new plastics policy just last week, committing only to 50% recycled content in its bottles by 2030 and investing to recycle the equivalent of what it produces each year. This singular focus on recycling is a prime example of corporations continuing to put the burden of managing our plastics pollution crisis on consumers.
It is important that the Canadian government remains vigilant on this point and gives this issue importance equal to that of climate issues in order to implement new country-wide policies for industry and instill an absent sense of urgency.
Furthermore, next to Coca-cola, companies such as Nestlé, Unilever and Procter and Gamble are among the worst offenders when it comes to plastic production and pollution in countries like the Philippines, which consequently has been ranked as the "third-worst polluter of the world's oceans”.
Before the G7 takes place, the Trudeau government must also consider how our waste-management infrastructure will handle the new China ban on foreign plastics. Canada exports approximately one third of its diverted waste plastic to other countries including China and the Philippines and so is directly affected by this ban. As well, despite promises, Trudeau has yet to solve the lingering problem of Canadian garbage stranded in the Philippines since 2013 without any tangible measures towards a solution.” Greenpeace Canada’s campaigner Laura Yates.
The government must seek alternatives that go beyond recycling and encite Canadian multinational corporations, including the international ones based here, to create new delivery systems that promote reduction and reuse before recycling.”
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For more information:
Loujain Kurdi, Communications Officer, 
, 514.577.6657