Brave Conversations Series
Plastic waste and pollution is an international crisis. Governments and businesses around the world are stepping up to address the issue. In Canada, much work is being done to transition from a linear take-make-waste economy to a circular plastics economy, in which plastic stays in the economy and out of the environment.
The Canada Plastics Pact (CPP) is a unique multi-stakeholder collaboration uniting diverse leaders and experts in the national plastics value chain to rethink and refashion the way we design, use, and reuse plastic packaging to realize a circular economy for plastics packaging in Canada.
However, this ecosystem is at the center of a complex, fragmented, and divisive debate: Is it better to eliminate plastic altogether? How might or should we ensure health, safety, and food security without the benefits of plastic packaging? How do we continue to benefit from the services plastics provide without the drawbacks? What are the technologies, processes, and services of the future that should inform today’s investments in plastic products, technologies, and infrastructure? Perhaps most pressing, what is the role of plastics packaging and various resins in a sustainable circular economy and how do we know this to be true?
No single idea, person, or technology can independently answer these questions. We need a diversity of perspectives, technologies, and approaches to inform our thinking and help instill resilience within our evolving plastics packaging system. In particular, we need to explore questions on which there is significant disagreement or antipathy, decisions around which will have significant impact on the future of the plastics packaging ecosystem in Canada.
The CPP is stewarding a webinar series that moves beyond emotion to be based on science and data, exploring perspectives on critical issues and challenges as it relates to the transition to a circular economy for plastics packaging.
Tuesday September 13, 2022
Series I: Polystyrene
The first of the Brave Conversations Series will focus on polystyrene (PS) and expanded polystyrene (EPS) and will explore perspectives on the current market and policy situation in Canada, emerging technologies, and considerations around the recyclability of PS and EPS, including if potential viable, near-term pathways for circularity could exist at scale.
What is the role of polystyrene and expanded polystyrene in a sustainable, Canadian circular plastics packaging economy?
Click here to watch the recording.
Speakers:
Paul Shorthouse, Interim Managing Director, Canada Plastics Pact (moderator)
Sam Baker, Director of Logistics, Recycle BC
Babatunde Olateju, Principal Research Associate – Sustainability, The Conference Board of Canada
Karen Wirsig, Plastics Program Manager, Environmental Defence
Robert Herritt, President, Styro-Go
Kimi Walker, Associate Vice-President – Product Stewardship, Canadian Tire Corporation
Cassie Bradley, Sustainable Commercial Manager, INEOS
