It should be illegal to export most plastic waste, say environmental groups

By Jolson Lim of iPolitics

Canada could stop dumping its garbage on developing countries by initiating an export ban on most categories of plastic waste, including certain recyclables, environmental groups say. 

The groups were testifying on Monday before the House of Commons Environment committee about Conservative MP Scot Davidson’s private member’s bill.

Bill C-204 bans exports of non-recyclable plastic waste from Canada to foreign countries for “final disposal,” such as landfilling or incineration, with financial penalties for violations.

But the bill doesn’t go far enough, because it doesn’t address garbage labelled as recyclable, said James Puckett, executive director of the Basel Action Network, which is based in Seattle. 

“All of this waste now moving to developing countries is not moving for the stated purpose of final disposal,” Puckett said. “It is all moving for recycling. That might sound good, except for the fact that this so-called environmentally benign recycling in Asia is anything but.”

The bill should be amended to include the new category of Annex II waste under the UN’s Basel Convention: mixed or contaminated plastic garbage that can’t be recycled without being cleaned first, Puckett said.

Canada should also ratify the new Basel Ban Amendment, which bans the export of hazardous waste — including for recycling — from countries in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) to non-OECD countries, he added.