Waste

Environment ministers are working within their respective jurisdictions and across jurisdictions through CCME to reduce waste and move towards a circular economy.

CCME’s current priorities on waste are waste reduction and supporting the move towards a circular economy.

Current work includes developing guidance on best practices to reduce plastic waste entering the environment from:

• stormwater, wastewater, and industrial discharges
• municipal biosolids and organic waste processing
• natural diasters and spill events. 

Zero Plastic Waste

Plastic waste and litter in oceans, inland lakes and waterways have emerged alongside climate change as a global environmental priority.

In November 2018 CCME approved in principle the Strategy on Zero Plastic Waste (the Strategy), which envisions keeping all plastics in the economy and out of the environment.‎ The Strategy outlines areas where changes are needed across the plastic lifecycle, from design to collection, clean-up and value recovery, and underscores the economic and business opportunities resulting from long-lasting and durable plastics.

In June 2019 environment ministers approved the Canada-wide Action Plan on Zero Plastic Waste: Phase 1, which focuses on: product design, single-use plastics, collection systems, recycling capacity and domestic markets. In July 2020 environment ministers approved the Canada-wide Action Plan on Zero Plastic Waste: Phase 2, which focuses on: consumer awareness, aquatic activities, research and monitoring, clean-up and global action. Together, phases 1 and 2 lay out concrete measures to keep plastics in the economy and out of the environment. Federal, provincial and territorial governments worked together and with a broad range of stakeholders and interested parties to identify the priority actions in the action plan.

Aspirational Canada-wide Waste Reduction Goal

In November 2018 ministers endorsed a Canada-wide aspirational waste reduction goal, meant to encourage and highlight waste reduction progress in Canada.

The Canada-wide waste reduction goal does not set a specific jurisdiction-by-jurisdiction target. It complements waste reduction efforts within each jurisdiction. 

In 2014, each Canadian threw away an average of 706 kg of all types of waste. The Canada-wide goal is to reduce this to 490 kg per person (a 30% reduction) by 2030, and to 350 kg per person (a 50% reduction) by 2040. Canada is on its way to meeting the 2030 goal, as some jurisdictions have adopted ambitious policies and programs to prevent and divert major waste streams such as organics and packaging.

Progress will be measured through the Statistics Canada biennial Waste Management Industry Survey kg/capita measure.

Extended Producer Responsibility 

Extended producer responsibility (EPR) is an environmental policy approach in which a producer's responsibility for a product is extended to the post-consumer stage of a product's life cycle.

Building on the 2009 publications - Canada-wide Action Plan for Extended Producer Responsibility (CAP-EPR) and Canada-wide Strategy for Sustainable Packaging - in 2022 CCME published Guidance to Facilitate Consistent Extended Producer Responsibility Policies and Programs for Plastics. This guidance provides a foundation on which to build greater consistency through, for example, common product categories and definitions for plastics.