This is the closing paragraph on the front page of a Canadian plastic industry website:
The Canadian plastics industry has had a decades-long commitment to product stewardship and environmental responsibility to ensure the wise use and recycling of plastic shopping bags.
In case you are confused, the word ensure means to make sure, certain or safe. So essentially the Canadian plastic industry claims a 100% recycling rate.
To their credit, recycling rates are very high in some parts of Canada. Prince Edward Island is an absolute anomaly in North America with a recycling rate of 57% for plastic bags.
The main population centers of Canada are more in line with the rest of the continent with recycling rates in the single digits. (pdf)
The pdf link is to a report from a plastic bag reduction task group that strangely enough includes the Canadian Plastics Industry Association. Reduction is the wisest thing that we can do with regard to plastic consumption. I don’t think the plastic industry people are going to ensure that.
Title Credit: Adapted from title by Dream Warriors
