Will Canada support a global plastic pollution treaty?
Like climate change or ozone-depleting chemicals, plastic pollution is a global issue, yet there are currently few international tools to regulate it. Photo by Anthony Poulin / Greenpeace
By Marc Fawcett-Atkinson
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 — including the U.K. and members of the European Union — and several major food and beverage companies have indicated support for the approach. Canada has not, despite listing plastic as toxic under its primary environmental law last week.
"About 70 per cent of countries support a treaty, but there are some notable exceptions," said Christina Dixon, deputy oceans campaign lead for the Environmental Investigation Agency, the U.K.-based environmental organization that co-ordinated the letter. "Canada is one of them."
Plastic pollution, like climate change, is a global problem, with millions of tonnes of plastic flowing regularly across international borders as it moves from factories to landfills or into the environment. Yet unlike carbon emissions, ozone-depleting chemicals, and other global environmental problems, plastic pollution has received little attention in terms of international agreements.
That could soon change.
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