A federal report released this week revealed that the Liberal government lacks comprehensive data on the extent of plastic pollution in the country, despite allocating millions of dollars toward its eradication, says Blacklock's Reporter.The report underscores the challenges in addressing plastic waste, especially as in-house research indicates that many Canadians do not view it as a significant environmental concern.According to Environment Commissioner Jerry DeMarco, "Information on the amount of plastic waste that is leaked into the environment was incomplete." The report titled highlighted that although the government has budgeted $279 million to eliminate plastic waste estimated at four tonnes annually, it lacks precise data on plastic pollution levels."In 2019, a study commissioned by the department concluded around one percent of Canada’s plastic waste in 2016 entered the environment as pollution," the report stated. "However, this number was drawn from a study that did not include plastic pollution from aquatic-based sources."Furthermore, the report noted that the environment department faced challenges in hiring consultants to quantify the amount of plastic pollution entering the environment, describing the effort as "not successful." DeMarco emphasized the significance of this lapse, stating, "We found the federal government did not know whether its reduction activities would eliminate all plastic waste by 2030."Despite government initiatives aiming for "zero plastic waste," DeMarco highlighted that the targets only focus on reducing plastic waste and do not measure progress toward the ultimate goal of zero plastic waste. He stressed the need for more real-time data to assess the severity of the problem and the effectiveness of mitigation efforts.In a separate study conducted by the Department of Health in 2022, findings revealed that plastic waste ranked lower in Canadians' concerns compared to other environmental risks. "Few are concerned," stated the Home Environmental Health Survey, which identified various environmental threats perceived as health risks by Canadians, including cigarette smoke, carbon monoxide, and asbestos.The survey, based on questionnaires with 2,187 people nationwide, indicated that fewer Canadians expressed concerns about single-use plastics compared to other environmental risks. The Department of Health paid pollsters with Kantar $99,996 for conducting the research.
