5. Product Environmental Impact Reduction, Reusability and Recyclability
Manufacturers continue to produce products that focus on sustainable environmental impacts while keeping end-of-life processing in mind for recycling or reusability. As the foundation of communities, manufacturers continue to make substantial investments over time to minimize their environmental footprint by increasing energy efficiency, saving, and recycling water, improving product life-cycle assessments and implementing initiatives to reduce pollution and waste. It is noted that the Canadian government held consultations in the fall of 2022 on plastics policies that could require labelling of all plastics sold in the country. The federal government also intends to create a ‘plastics registry’ that would track plastics content in all consumer products. However, it must be noted that the mandatory registry would conflict with the principles of extended producer responsibility – where producers are responsible for their own entire products, which are returned as a whole for processing. The Canadian Federal Plastics Registry was established April 20, 2024, to monitor and track plastics from production through end-of-life in Canada. The Registry and electronic notification program will be administered by the Plastics Regulatory Affairs Division within Environment and Climate Change Canada and is intended to support the Canada-wide Strategy on Zero Plastic Waste and Action Plan. Information for resins and plastic products collected under the notice is publicly available. The notice requires Canadian manufacturers, importers, and producers of plastic resins; producers of plastic products; certain waste generators; and service providers who manage plastics or plastic products, to report each year the quantity and type of plastic they place on the Canadian market beginning September 29, 2025. Companies who export plastic resins and plastic products to Canada do not have an obligation to report under this notice, but they do have an obligation to support the entities that import their products in meeting their reporting obligations. However, producers that (1) place less than 1,000 kg of plastic products or packaging per year on the market; (2) generate less and 1,000 kg of packaging and plastic product waste per year; or (3) manage less than 1,000 kg of plastic products listed in Schedule 1, Parts 3 or 4; are exempt from reporting under this notice. Product Design Product design influences the durability and reliability of products, which has a direct impact on the life of a product and end-of-life management options. Producers optimize product design to reduce the materials used, and the sustainability of products. Specifically, producers conduct analyses on the use of plastics and other materials in the design and manufacture of EOPE; maximizing the use of materials that can be recycled and reused. Producers also work to reduce the environmental impact associated with product packaging waste. For instance, producers are reducing the quantities of PVC used in packaging by substituting alternative
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