Feds invest over $3.3 million to find ways to reduce plastic pollution

During the fourth session of the Intergovernmental Negotiating Committee on Plastic Pollution (INC-4) hosted in Ottawa, the Government of Canada announced over $3.3 million in funding to support Canadian organizations developing solutions to address plastic pollution.

Nine small- and medium sized companies – which were not identified – will each receive up to $150,000 to develop environmentally acceptable and cost-effective solutions to help better reuse plastics or improve the end-of-life management of plastic film that commonly wraps consumer items. The funding for these projects is being provided through the two latest Canadian Plastics Innovation Challenges, which has committed over $25 million to Canadian small- and medium-sized businesses to date.

More than $2 million from Environment and Climate Change Canada’s funding for Advancing a Circular Economy for Plastics in Canada is going to 12 recipients for projects that will identify new opportunities, facilitate collaboration and information sharing, help reduce investment risk, and encourage the adoption of circular solutions. Circular solutions are ways that products and materials are kept in circulation (or in use) by either maintaining, reusing, refurbishing, remanufacturing, or recycling them.

“We’re investing in Canadian-made solutions because everyone plays a role in tackling plastic pollution. Small- and medium-sized businesses, non-profit organizations, researchers, and others are key partners in achieving Canada’s vision of a zero plastic-waste future,” said Julie Dabrusin, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister of Energy and Natural Resources. “The work these partners are doing will help drive innovation and mobilize solutions across the country to address real-life issues.”

In 2020, Canadians generated 4.9 million tonnes of plastic waste, the government said, with about one per cent of that entering the environment as pollution.

To date, through 18 Innovative Solutions Canada Challenges, Canada has committed over $25 million to Canadian small- and medium-sized businesses to innovate and develop solutions to address plastic pollution and waste.