Taking Action on Plastics

Plastics play an important role in our society. As the national industry association representing the broad spectrum of companies that manufacture and distribute non-alcoholic refreshment beverages consumed in Canada, we’re proud of the high rates at which our containers are collected, but we want every bottle back. Beverage containers are made to be remade, and uniting with business, government, and non-governmental organizations across the plastics value chain is a crucial step towards eliminating beverage containers’ presence in the environment and keeping them in the circular economy where they belong.


The Canada Plastics Pact (CPP)

The Canada Plastics Pact provides exactly this opportunity. It brings together 1,000+ diverse organizations globally with Canadian thought leaders, and works closely with the Ellen MacArthur Foundation’s Plastics Pact Network in adopting the New Plastics Economy’s common vision of a circular economy for plastics, as set out in Ellen MacArthur’s New Plastics Economy Global Commitment and the global Plastics Pact network. In realizing this vision, the Canada Plastics Pact will work towards four ambitious collective 2025 targets:

  1. Define a list of plastic packaging that is to be designated as problematic or unnecessary and take measures to eliminate them by 2025.
  2. Support efforts towards 100% of plastic packaging being designed to be reusable, recyclable or compostable by 2025.
  3. Undertake ambitious actions to ensure that at least 50% of plastic packaging is effectively recycled or composted by 2025.
  4. Ensure an average of at least 30% recycled content across all plastic packaging (by weight) by 2025.

To achieve these targets, the CPP and CBA, as an implementation partner of the Pact, are committed to:

  • Focusing on the root causes of plastics pollution, rather than the symptoms;
  • Working collaboratively across the value chain to enable industry-wide systems change;
  • Mobilizing and aligning stakeholders and working towards the common vision – locally, nationally and globally; and
  • Harnessing and amplifying the collective skills, leadership, expertise and capacity of Canadian stakeholders to advance knowledge, and catalyze innovation and new solutions.

Action NOW

Financial modelling done by Deloitte for the Government of Canada shows that by taking ambitious action, a circular economy for plastics in Canada by 2030 would save $500 million in costs every year, create tens of thousands of jobs; and be a substantial source of greenhouse gas emissions savings.

CBA is wholeheartedly committed to and united behind a vision of a circular economy for plastic, in which plastics stay in the economy and out of the environment.