Canada wants more recycled content, tougher labeling rules

Canada's government wants new mandates on post-consumer content in plastic packaging and higher standards for marketing plastics as recyclable, actions it said are needed to boost markets and address consumer concerns over greenwashing.

A draft proposal in April from the agency Environment and Climate Change Canada would set recycled-content requirements between 30-60 percent by 2030 for a wide range of plastic packaging.

As well, it would adopt an 80 percent threshold for products to be marketed as recyclable, requiring that eight in 10 Canadians have access to recycling as well as mandating that 80 percent of the waste plastic delivered to a recycling plant becomes resin that could displace virgin plastic.

By comparison, the U.S. environmental marketing Green Guides generally require 60 percent public access to make recyclability claims.

Like Canada, the U.S. Federal Trade Commission is also rewriting its rules, with some groups urging Washington to be much tougher on plastics claims. Canada's rule-writing process is further along.

"We must find a way to keep plastics out of the environment," said Steven Guilbeault, minister of Environment and Climate Change Canada. "That means requiring minimum recycled content in certain types of plastic packaging and providing Canadians with clearer labeling and better transparency, to help people better understand what they are buying and determine whether those plastics can be properly recycled in their community."

As well, Canada's plan proposes a three-tier system for using the "chasing arrows" symbol and resin identification codes. ECCC noted some pushback around its labeling plans in a report earlier this year.

The proposal said that less than 14 percent of plastics packaging and single-use plastics are currently recycled in the country, but it sets targets for 90 percent of plastic packaging to be collected and, when accounting for yield loss in sorting and processing, that 65 percent can be recycled.

The agency is taking public comments on its framework document until May 18 and expects to issue detailed draft rules by the end of the year.

On recycled content, it would set up a phased-in process between 2026 and 2030 that ends with 60 percent recycled content in beverage bottles, rigid PET and high density polyethylene containers and other rigids, including packaging from polypropylene, polystyrene and expanded PS.

For flexible packaging, it proposes varying requirements between 35-50 percent recycled content by 2030, depending on the thickness of the material. Generally, requirements on flexibles start to kick in in 2028.

It would exempt various medical, pesticide and hazardous material packaging, as well as foams where no alternative material exists.

The Canadian policy document said chemical recycling can be used for recycled content, but it also voiced some caution around a technical but important measurement criteria called mass balance.

It said mass balance, a methodology favored by industry groups to measure recycled content from chemical recycling, can only be used to count plastic waste that goes back into resin, and not into fuel or basic chemicals.

"In the government of Canada's consultations, a majority of stakeholders supported allowing recycled resin from all recycling technologies," the proposal said. "No evidence was provided to prohibit recycled resin from any specific technologies.

"At the same time, some stakeholders expressed concern over the impacts and transparency of chemical recycling," it said. "In particular, these stakeholders expressed concern about the production of fuel being counted as recycled content through mass balance accounting at the recycling stage."

The Canadian proposal would set up an 80 percent threshold for public access to recycling and also use a performance standard for industrial sorting and processing of plastic waste.

For the plastic to be labeled recyclable, it would require facilities that sort municipal plastic waste to bale at least 80 percent of plastic they take in and in turn require North American plastics recycling plants to turn 80 percent of those bales into recycled resins.

It also unveiled a proposal to set up three types of chasing arrows symbols on recycled products, indicating whether the material is fully recyclable, is not recyclable or is collected but may not be recycled in practice.

It also sets up new labeling rules for compostable products.

"Today, too many plastic products that Canadians buy that are labeled with the chasing arrows symbol or labeled 'biodegradable' cannot, in fact, be recycled or composted in local waste management systems," an ECCC news release said. "Canadians who are concerned about misinformation or greenwashing want to make informed decisions about the products they buy."