Canada aims to track plastic use in food and agriculture

A government agency in Canada wants to establish a plastics registry to monitor and track plastic, including plastic used in agriculture and food manufacturing.

The USDA has reported that the Environment and Climate Change Canada has opened consultations on the establishment of a federal plastics registry. The registry aims to be a reporting tool to monitor and track plastic, including plastic packaging used in agriculture and food manufacturing, through its life cycle on the Canadian market. Comments are accepted until Feb. 13, 2024, according to the USDA report.

The federal government announced the intention to create a Federal Plastics Registry that would require producers to report annually on the quantity and types of plastic they place on the Canadian market, how the plastic moves through the economy and how it is managed at end of life, the report said. Interested stakeholders can send input to plastiques-plastics@ec.gc.ca or by email to Tracey Spack, Director, Plastics Regulatory Affairs Division Environment and Climate Change Canada 351 Saint-Joseph Boulevard, Gatineau, QC, K1A 0H3.

According to the notice of intent for the plastics registry, the required information would be collected for three consecutive years, 2024 through 2026, with reporting deadlines in September of the following year. (For instance, the last report would have to be submitted no later than Sept. 29, 2027, for the 2026 calendar year.)

The notice includes detailed information on the types of plastic materials that would have to be reported and the various categories they would be classified under. The measure would apply to a variety of plastic products used in agriculture and food manufacturing, including food packaging, the report said.

According to the USDA, reporting requirements target plastic producers, where the term “producer” is defined broadly as meaning “a brand owner or intellectual property holder who resides in Canada."

If the brand owner is not a resident of Canada, then the first resident person to manufacture or import a plastic product in Canada is defined as the producer, according to the report. If there is no resident manufacturer or importer, then the first resident person to distribute a plastic product in Canada is defined as the producer, the report said. If there is no resident importer or distributor, then the first resident person who supplied the plastic product to the consumer in Canada is defined as the producer. 

The proposed Plastic Registry is part of Canada’s Zero Plastic Waste Agenda, aimed at reducing plastic pollution and moving toward a circular plastics economy through a range of complementary actions across the plastics lifecycle, such as recycled content requirements and labeling rules for compostability and recyclability and a pollution prevention plan for primary food packaging. In 2022, Canada was the second largest market for U.S. exports of agriculture and food products valued at $28.7 billion, of which the high-value consumer-oriented category totaled $20 billion.

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