Good afternoon and thank you.
I am a professor at the École de technologie supérieure, or ETS for short, and the Canada research chair in measuring the impact of human activities on climate change. My comments today are based on that expertise, which focuses on measuring the environmental impact of human activities and using a systemic approach to guide decision-making.
I'm also the scientific director of the Centre d'études et de recherches intersectorielles en économie circulaire, or CERIEC, based at the ETS. CERIEC works to move the circular economy forward through interdisciplinary scientific research, as well as training, dialogue and knowledge transfer initiatives, in order to maximize the benefits for economic stakeholders, governments and society.
CERIEC's research is conducted primarily through an ecosystem of sector-specific labs to accelerate the transition to the circular economy. Each lab brings together stakeholders across the value chain in a given sector, ranging from research institutions and governments to industry and members of civil society. Through co-creation workshops, they develop a series of collaborative research projects. During the workshops, participants identify the barriers to the circular economy within the sector. They can be technological barriers, of course, but they can also be regulatory, economic and social barriers. That information is then used to come up with potential solutions, which in turn become the focus of research projects, in co-operation with partners on the ground.
Plastic circularity is not possible without taking into account the entire material life cycle, both for plastics and for the alternative materials proposed. The risk of shifting problems is high if that principle isn't adhered to, as recent history has shown. We've seen, for example, that producing certain bioplastics can be more energy-intensive. We know that producing some biosourced materials on a large scale causes other kinds of environmental problems, including deforestation, biodiversity loss and eutrophication in the case of agricultural biomass production.
The concept of plastic circularity extends far beyond recycling. The circular economy is more than just recycling. It's a model whereby production and use are aimed at maximizing resource use at every stage of the product life cycle, in accordance with the principles of a circular economy, in order to reduce the environmental impact.
The circular economy model entails a range of strategies. The focus cannot be on recycling alone. To begin with, it's important to rethink how we make and use products to ensure minimal resource use, regardless of the material chosen. Circular economy strategies include eco-design, responsible sourcing policies and maximized operational efficiency. Also important is implementing strategies that allow products to become more use-intensive, such as the sharing economy, in which goods are shared by many users. Another key principle is extending product longevity as much as possible. That means moving away from single-use materials, and promoting the repair, reuse and refurbishment of all materials. Ultimately, when a material can no longer be reused, its value as a resource should be leveraged through recycling, valorization and symbiotic relationships within the industry.
The barriers to the circularity of plastics are many, so it would certainly be useful to study them using a model similar to that of the CERIEC labs. Some challenges are, of course, technological. Existing processes can't be used to effectively recycle some plastics that have reached the end of their life cycle, so further research is needed to come up with the right processes. In many cases, though, the technology is available but other kinds of barriers exist. This is a major issue, and I've spoken with many in the industry about it. The geographic distribution of plastics at the end of their life cycle is very spread out. They are all over the place, in homes and businesses. In order to be profitable, recycling plants have to operate on a large scale. That means having to ship plastics over long distances, which doesn't make economic sense.
Developing other circular economy strategies beyond recycling is key. If we want to be more disciplined in using resources of any kind, we have to do a better job of designing products. In other words, they need to be made with the right materials in the right place, they need to be reliable and repairable to prolong their longevity, and they need to allow for the separation of component materials so they can be recycled at the end of their life cycle.
Something else that's important is putting the right financial and regulatory incentives in place to help the reuse, refurbishment and recycling sectors develop. As long as landfilling materials is cheaper than recycling them, advancing recycling will be a challenge. Similarly, as long as manufacturers continue to sell products that can't be repaired, people can't be expected to prolong the lives of those products. That applies to plastics and other materials alike. To help the plastic circularity sector develop more quickly and improve the circularity of materials at every stage of the product life cycle, the government should devise a road map. This will not only ensure that efforts are better coordinated, but also foster measures that have a meaningful impact.
Thank you.