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Fisheries and Oceans Canada applies strategy to combat plastics

Ottawa – The federal government is taking practical steps to better manage the use and disposal of plastics, and reduce plastic waste, in its own operations.

The strategies include setting explicit targets for diverting plastic waste; eliminating the unnecessary use of single-use plastics in government operations and using procurement practices to focus on sustainable plastic products.

Plastic pollution is harming our oceans, lakes and rivers, Fisheries and Oceans Canada said in a news release. With more than eight million metric tonnes of plastic ending up in the oceans each year, it is important for governments, organizations, communities and individuals to take action.

Jonathan Wilkinson, minister of fisheries, oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard, recently announced a new policy to curb the purchase and use of single-use plastics. Fisheries and Oceans Canada and the Canadian Coast Guard have established a new policy to reduce the purchase and use of single-use plastics and issued an associated directive to restrict their purchase and use for federal government meetings, events and conferences.

The internal policy is intended to support the Canadian government’s Greening Government Strategy and Actions on Plastic Waste in Federal Operations, which commit the government to divert at least 75 per cent of all non-hazardous operational waste, including plastic, by 2030.

More than 2,400 department employees pledged to reduce their consumption of single-use plastics in both their personal and professional lives as part of a departmentally led Goodbye Plastic initiative.