The Government of Canada has conducted a consultation process on its draft outline to address plastic waste and pollution in the textile and apparel industry. This draft outline fits into the Government of Canada’s larger national strategy to achieve Zero Plastic Waste and its plan to reduce plastic waste and pollution across all industries. Given the significant contribution of the apparel and textile industries to waste and its impact on the environment, the consultation focuses on the textile and apparel industry.
What is the Problem the Government is Trying to Address?
The Canadian government conducted research on the impact of the apparel industry and the statistics are alarming. For example, about 80 billion articles of clothing are manufactured each year globally which is a staggering increase from 20 years ago. The rate of manufacturing has increased by 400% from 20 years ago. Given that synthetic materials are more commonly used this has compounded the impact on the environment. The Canadian government, as well as other governments around the world, are trying to tackle this issue. One of the strategies is to enhance circularity. Circularity refers to practices that minimize waste across the entire production and consumption cycle of a product, emphasizing sustainability and economic efficiency.
Finding Solutions
Textiles are the fifth-largest category of plastic waste sent to Canadian landfills, with 98 percent of textiles destined for landfills. Currently, several Canadian municipalities have implemented textile and apparel collection and recycling programs to divert textile waste from landfill. For example, Markham, Ontario implemented a curbside ban on textile material in 2017, and deployed safe, steel donation bins in high-traffic, well-lit areas. To date, the program has diverted more than 9 kilotons of textile material away from landfill to charitable organizations.
As the Canadian government seeks more solutions to improve textile waste, the drafted outline will indicate potential solutions to improve the circularity of the textile and apparel industry while keeping garments in the economy and identifying when solutions should be implemented within the chain. The Government of Canada is looking for ideas and input from stakeholders on various issues as they relate to the textile and apparel industry, including:
determining and quantifying the sources of waste and pollution;
extending the life of a product;
waste management;
limited recycling in Canada; and
microfibre pollution.
The proposed environmental objective for the draft outline is to prevent textile and apparel waste (including microfibres) from going to landfill or incineration or leaking into the environment as pollution. The draft roadmap will take a waste management hierarchy approach which will focus on redesign, reduce, reuse, repair, and recycling of products over energy recovery and landfilling.
Understanding Plastics Reporting
The Government of Canada has already established a Federal Plastics Registry requiring companies to report on the amount and type of plastics they produce, import or otherwise place on the market each year. The Federal Plastics Registry also requires reporting on the quantity of plastic collected at end of life and sent for diversion or disposal. Reporting in the textiles and apparel category is required by September 29 of each year starting in 2025.
The European Union has already initiated a strategy to change how we produce and consume textiles through improving the circular economy in the textile and apparel industry and implementing an extended producer responsibility model. It appears that Canada is taking its cue from the EU.
Government Next Steps
The Federal government will manage the development and coordination of this outline. The Environmental and Climate Change Canada department (ECCC) commits to report back to stakeholders on:
The results of consultations
The implementation of measures where possible, and
The overall implementation of the roadmap, within five years of its final publication
ECCC will plan a one-day webinar with key industry stakeholders, NGOs, and provinces and territories. ECCC will develop a what-we-heard report summarizing the input received throughout the consultation process and will circulate information on the webinar in the same manner as this consultation document.
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