June 21, Mississauga, Ontario — Mississauga City Council voted yesterday to support a Notice of Motion proposed by Mayor Bonnie Crombie and Councillor Matt Mahoney (Ward 8) to request the Federal Government to establish a National Plastics Reduction Strategy and work to reduce single plastics use.
The Notice of Motion reads as follows:
AND WHEREAS Canada has the opportunity to become a waste reduction leader and has led the development of a new global treaty to combat plastic pollution, The Global Plastics Charter, that will be discussed by the G7 Environment Minister at their next meeting;
WHEREAS The G7 countries have agreed to a Global Plastics Charter that commits Canada to developing more resource-efficient and sustainable approaches to the management of plastics, that involves industry, academia, government, and citizens;
AND WHEREAS The City of Mississauga (City) has illustrated long standing and continuing efforts to creating a sustainable city as laid out in the Strategic Plan, “Mississauga is a city that values its shared responsibility to leave a legacy of a clean and healthy natural environment” and further has a vision to “Lead and Encourage Environmentally Responsible Approaches – to lead and promote the utilization of technologies and tactics to conserve energy and water, reduce emissions and waste, improve our air quality, and protect our natural environment”;
AND WHEREAS The City of Mississauga is a local municipal government within the Great Lakes Region, where Lake Ontario is the main source of drinking water for residents; and must take a leadership position in dealing with plastic pollution in the Great Lakes.
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED:
That City Council request the Federal Government to develop a national strategy that addresses plastic pollution, with regulations aimed at:
Making the producers of products and packaging directly responsible for reducing resource consumption;
Designing standardized products and packaging that are reusable, recyclable, or truly compostable (meeting minimum standards);
Incenting the reduction of waste, reusability of products and packaging, and ensuring all products and packaging can practically be recycled;
Establishing consistent national definitions (e.g. circular economy, resource recovery and recycling), performance expectations and standards, and measurement protocols for achieving targets;
Developing a national non-recyclable single-use plastics ban or alternate action and promoting the use of feasible/available alternatives;
Establishing a national non-recyclable single-use plastics recycled content performance standard;
Identify plastics and plastic additives that are toxic or cannot feasibly be collected and recycled and ban or regulate their import, use, and sale. (Minimize and standardize the different types of plastics allowed in packaging);
Reducing consumer and industrial use of single-use plastics, including, but not limited to, plastic bags, bottles, straws, tableware, polystyrene (foam), plastic tea bags, cigarette filters, and beverage containers; and,
Supporting commodity markets that incent the use of secondary materials over primary materials.
That the City make every effort to educate and promote the reduction of waste to all internal staff (through available programs such as Green Leaders Corporate Environmental Awareness), with a focus on single-use plastic;
That the City eliminate non-recyclable, single-use plastics from use/purchase within internal operations, where feasible (including but not limited to creamers/milkettes, plastic stir sticks, plastic cups, plastic straws, polystyrene containers);
That the City work with the Region of Peel to champion the City of Mississauga’s single-use plastic waste reduction initiatives at City facilities; and
That City Council forward this motion to the Federation of Canadian Municipalities (FCM) and request that this resolution be considered at an upcoming FCM Board meeting.
“The Mississauga Board of Trade supports in principle this resolution. It is important that government work directly with the plastics and chemical industries whose associations have adopted the G7 Plastics Charter,” said David Wojcik, President & CEO. “The industry is on the leading edge of these issues and needs to be supported and not punished by governments at all levels.”
-30-
Media Contact:
David Wojcik
