Canadian government awards $3 million to three firms to cut plastic food, construction waste

Canada’s federal government is giving $1 million each to three companies developing technologies to address plastic waste from food packaging and construction.

Environment Minister Jonathan Wilkinson announced the winners of his government’s plastics innovation challenge, which is part of its plan to ban many single-use plastics by 2021.

The three companies are: Montreal-based research and development firm Axipolymer Inc., which will create a recyclable food packaging film; clean technology supplier GreenMantra Technologies in Brantford, Ont., which will transform polystyrene insulation waste into new insulation; and prefabricated construction technologies supplier MgO Systems, of Calgary, which will use PVC construction waste to make new insulating materials.

Wilkinson told the Globe 2020 business summit in Vancouver – which was held from Feb. 10-13 – that the government is launching six new plastics challenges and three clean technology challenges.

Those challenges call on innovators to develop solutions to a number of problems related to plastic pollution including finding alternatives to packaging, diverting vehicle plastic from landfills, reducing e-waste and monitoring microplastics in marine environments.

Wilkinson said that boosting clean technology development is part of his government’s approach to achieve a future with zero plastic waste. “Plastic is a growing threat to Canada’s environment and we need to act to reduce plastic pollution,” he said. “[These] announcements are about tapping into Canada’s incredible potential to change how we produce, how we use and how we recover plastic waste.”