This is why Oceana has launched a global plastics campaign. Additionally, microplastics and microfibres from clothing and textiles are washed down the drain and are often too small to be filtered out at wastewater treatment facilities. A House of Commons Library Briefing Paper on plastic waste in the UK, including statistics on plastic waste and information on UK Government and devolved Government plans and ambitions to reduce avoidable plastic waste and examples of voluntary initiatives from the plastics industry, environmental groups and retailers. Recycling one ton of plastic saves the equivalent of 1,000 to 2,000 gallons of gasoline. Canadians expect the Government to take action to protect the environment and to reduce plastic pollution across the country. It is estimated that an additional 12 billion tonnes of plastic will be lost to disposal by 2050. About 12 per cent of Canada’s plastic waste is sent outside of North America to be ‘recycled.’ The majority of this exported plastic waste is sent to countries in Southeast Asia, many of which do not have the proper infrastructure to deal with this waste. At the moment, the city diverts 52 per cent of the waste it collects into recycling (compared with, say, 34 per cent for Calgary and an average of 55 per cent in many Canadian cities). One ton of plastic is around 25,000 plastic bottles. Source: Statistics Canada, EnviroStats (16-002-X). It’s like if your bathtub was overflowing – you wouldn’t run to get a mop first, you’d turn off the tap. Australians dump 36,700 tonnes of plastic bags into our landfill every year. Study: The impact of debris on marine life, 2015, 4. Study: Production, use, and fate of all plastics ever made (Science Advance), 2017, 5. 10% of the plastic we use yearly end up in the ocean. Canadians produce 3.25 million tonnes of plastic waste each year. The remaining 20 per cent of ocean plastic comes from at-sea sources, which includes both fishing and shipping litter. Poor plastic waste management in Canada contributes to environmental pollution and economic inefficiencies. “I don’t live near the ocean, so my plastic doesn’t end up there.”. Our oceans are facing a plastic crisis. In a study published in Science Advance, researchers estimate since the 1950s 8.3 billion tons of plastic has been generated around the world and only 9 per cent of those plastics have been recycled. FACT: Approximately 80 per cent of plastic that ends up in the ocean comes from land-based sources. Isn’t plastic pollution being dealt with appropriately? Plastic Oceans Foundation Canada. Ensuring our oceans are clean, healthy and plastic-free is the responsibility of everyone in Canada, including companies, governments and consumers, and also requires concerted action from all sectors around the world. The country deposits 86 per cent of plastic waste in landfills, and incinerates another 4 per cent, while only 9 per cent is recycled (Environment and Climate Change Canada, 2019).6 The country also exports a fair amount of plastic It doesn’t make good sense to spend millions of dollars every year on a persistent problem, without addressing its root cause. But last week, Australia's federal and state governments came together to start planning for an eventual ban of plastic waste exports. https://bit.ly/2FboCRj, Canada’s plastic problem: Sorting fact from fiction, oin us as a Wavemaker for the latest campaign updates and actions you can take, View all references for the facts listed in this blog here, Talking sea turtles and plastic pollution with the Canadian Sea Turtle Network, Plastic Nation: Canada can be a leader in stopping the plastic disaster, Recycling alone cannot end the plastic disaster, An albatross in New Zealand died after swallowing a plastic bottle, new video shows, Oceana in Canada, the U.S. and UK calls on Amazon to follow their customers’ lead and offer plastic-free packaging choices at checkout. Amount exported to China ( including Hong Kong ) animals that call them home even... Much waste is expected to increase four times by 2050 of 1,000 2,000... 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