Thank you very much, Chair and members of the committee. I appreciate the opportunity to speak today on the critical issue of plastics recycling.

Food, Health & Consumer Products of Canada, or FHCP, is the leading national trade association representing manufacturers of food, beverages, consumer goods and health products. Members are Canadian-owned and international companies of all sizes, manufacturing both company-owned, branded products and private label or store brand products. Together, they produce the vast majority of packaged goods sold in every aisle of Canada's grocery stores and pharmacies.

Sustainability is a key priority for FHCP, and our efforts on plastics, plastics recycling and extended producer responsibility, or EPR, impact all of our members.

In 2019, FHCP endorsed the Ellen MacArthur Foundation's vision for a new plastics economy. This focuses on eliminating plastic pollution through better product design and innovation; collecting and recycling, reusing or composting the plastics in the market; and reducing the reliance on virgin, petroleum-based plastic resins to reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

Our work with plastics recycling is threefold.

First, FHCP supports our members in packaging innovations. Our members are largely transitioning their packaging portfolios to align with the golden design rules for plastic packaging, which are a set of common principles to improve design for recyclability.

Second, FHCP and our members are actively engaged in discussions with the federal government on matters related to plastics. Each of the policies considered by Environment and Climate Change Canada—be they the federal plastics registry or policies like recycled content mandates for certain product categories and labelling requirements for recyclability and compostability—directly links to provincially mandated EPR.

Third, FHCP directly engages with provincial governments, regulatory bodies and producer organizations, like Circular Materials and Éco Entreprises Québec, to ensure that provincial policy will result in the development and implementation of effective and efficient recycling programs.

EPR has been in effect in various forms in Canada since 2004, expanding across the country and transitioning all programs to full EPR. This means that industry is assuming the full responsibility for the financing and delivery of province-wide curbside recycling programs. By 2027, 97% of Canadians will live in a jurisdiction with full EPR.

Over the past 20 years, Canadian producers have contributed more than $6.3 billion. In 2024, producer costs across Canada exceeded $1 billion.

We support EPR as the only way to achieve scale and ensure appropriate outcomes for materials, but the rapid pace of massive cost escalation is unsustainable. We need governments, including the federal government, to make strategic capital investments in recycling capacity and new technologies.

Research commissioned by the federal government indicates a $6.5-billion technology gap to achieve a circular economy. This cannot be borne by producers alone. Plastic is a resource. We must ensure that it is collected and does not enter the environment, but not all plastics are the same. Mechanical recycling is a good solution to process rigid plastics, but we have extremely limited outcomes in Canada with flexible plastics and need strategic investments to ensure that we have sufficient and appropriate processing capacity and end markets for this material. We need targets that are ambitious but achievable and reflect the material that is in the market.

Lastly, we need engagement throughout the federal government, including Environment and Climate Change Canada, Health Canada, Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada, Innovation, Science and Economic Development and the Canada Infrastructure Bank. We must work together to scale and accelerate a circular economy for plastics as a priority for the government, for industry and for the environment.

Thank you.