Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Mr. Speaker, today I want to speak to an environmental and community issue. The lack of plastic waste recycling and the influx of plastics in our landfills in the NWT.
Plastic is present in everything in our society, but the management of plastic waste remains a problem. Only 9 percent of the plastic waste that is created in our country is recycled. Plastics continue to be buried in landfills across the territory, including in Yellowknife, as reported this past April by the CBC. 60 tonnes of plastic waste was collected in the blue bins across the city, and they are now in the landfill as of 2023.
Mr. Speaker, the ideal situation would be for us to leave the land and water clean, free from plastic wastes and all contaminants as long as this land shall last. Plastic takes centuries to decompose, and plastic recycling infrastructure across the country is limited. As of 2018, countries like China, that used to take and process North American waste, refused to take any more plastic and so it piles higher here at home. But, Mr. Speaker, we do have levers to pull at our disposal in this Assembly. Extended producer responsibility is now a tool available to us as legislators in the the NWT under the New Waste Reduction and Resource Recovery Act.
New regulations, legislation, and policies can help jurisdictions, including ours, to shift responsibility from governments to recycle plastics back to the manufacturers who create plastic waste in the first place. I would like to see clear direction from this Cabinet on how we can help lead the change in this country to push back the endless waves of plastic packaging from growing in our community landfills. I am keen to see what action this government will take on plastic waste, and how we will help support the Government of Canada's zero plastic waste agenda. I will have questions for the Minister of ECC at the appropriate time. Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, Member from Great Slave. Members' statements. Member from Sahtu.
