A Canada's National Observer investigation into the battle between government, industry and environmentalists to bring our country's rising plastic pollution under control.
The revamped rules are a “bold step” that would shift costs to industry and keep more types of packaging away from landfills, provincial Environment Minister Jeff Yurek said. But critics say the burden could be passed to consumers, and that new targets are too low.
The $35-billion plastics industry’s threat of legal action against Canada's efforts to rein in harmful plastic pollution will go nowhere, the federal government and environmental advocates say.
Over 40 leading Canadian researchers signed a letter this week urging Canada to support efforts to create a global UN treaty to address plastic pollution. About two-thirds of countries globally and several major food and beverage companies have indicated support for the approach.
Plastic is now considered toxic under Canada’s primary environmental law — the Canadian Environmental Protection Act — the Trudeau government announced Wednesday.
Emerging research on microplastics suggests they can leak harmful chemicals into the environment. On the East Coast, one researcher is working to understand the impact of these tiny particles — and reckoning with science's colonial legacy at the same time.
The federal government is calling for a new “circular economy” that would rely on massively scaling up existing recycling facilities and still-nascent recycling technologies to keep disposable plastic ubiquitous in our daily lives. But can recycling really save us?
Canada's $28-billion plastics industry has always resisted efforts to curtail production. But with the federal government proposing a ban on certain single-use items and looking to classify plastic as toxic, the pushback has grown even greater.