New Partnerships Strengthen Canada Plastics Pact’s Efforts To Eliminate Plastic Waste
OTTAWA, July 2, 2024 – The Canada Plastics Pact (CPP) is pleased to welcome EcoTank Canada and the Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA) to its expanding network of partners in Q2 of 2024.
EcoTank Canada is committed to leading environmental innovation by expanding its network of refillable windshield washer fluid dispensers across North America. Their efforts aim to revolutionize the automotive industry while reducing reliance on single-use plastics. Since the company’s launch in January 2022, EcoTank Canada has eliminated the need for more than 115,000 plastic jugs. They now manage over 289 dispensers in 129 locations.
In April 2024, CPP founding Partner Canadian Tire Corporation partnered with EcoTank Canada to further the impact of its ongoing windshield-washer fluid dispenser initiative as part of CPP’s Reuse Accelerator project, an initiative partially funded by Environment and Climate Change Canada.
Solid Waste Association of North America (SWANA)
SWANA is a collective of 10,000 dedicated professionals from both the public and private sectors. The association’s mission is to propel the transition from solid waste management to resource management, uniting around the pillars of education, advocacy, safety, and research. Their members provide critical roles in collecting and processing plastics to enable recycling and to prevent plastic pollution. They are building connections to support designing for recycling, strengthening demand for recycled content, and supporting critical infrastructure.
“To eliminate plastic waste and pollution, we need a holistic strategy that includes both upstream and downstream solutions. These new partnerships allow us to better address unnecessary and problematic plastics by providing reusable or refillable alternatives where it makes sense, and designing the plastics we do need to be easily recyclable,” said Cher Mereweather, Managing Director of the Canada Plastics Pact.
Since the CPP launched in January 2021, various initiatives have been underway to address the opportunities and challenges to enacting systems change, such as the formation of strategic working groups that bring together the key stakeholders to tackle the pressing issues around plastic waste and pollution. The CPP’s guidance documents, driven by the collective expertise of the Pact Partners within its working groups, are a critical tool that supports the implementation of change in Partner operations, by sharing knowledge and innovative solutions.
This past year, CPP has published several guidance documents to accelerate the transition to a circular economy for plastics. Notably, its guidance document to support the elimination of unnecessary and problematic plastics was developed by a cross-section of CPP Partners to be used by all Canadian stakeholders that put plastics in the market. It provides guidance to industry on how to determine whether various plastic packaging is necessary, and if it is, what packaging is likely to have a place in the circular economy.
Resources:
- Visit our website at www.plasticspact.ca.
- Read quotes from CPP Partners.
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About the Canada Plastics Pact
The Canada Plastics Pact is leading Canada’s response to the escalating plastic crisis.
We exist to eliminate plastic waste by accelerating and scaling the solutions that will keep plastics in the economy and out of people, animals and nature.
Through fostering innovation and collaboration, more than 100 Partners from across the plastics value chain are taking meaningful steps to eliminate unnecessary and problematic plastics, redesign packaging, and increase their use of recycled plastic.
CPP is a member of the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s Global Plastics Pact network and is a solution space of The Natural Step Canada in partnership with the Smart Prosperity Institute, whose shared vision is a strong and inclusive economy that thrives within nature’s limits.