Recycling

The Prime Minister of Canada Justin Trudeau has announced that Canada will ban single-use plastic "such as plastic bags, straws, cutlery, plates, and stir sticks" in 2021 "and take other steps to reduce pollution from plastic products and packaging".

In a press release, the Government states that less than 10 percent of the plastic in Canada gets recycled and that by reducing plastic waste a reduction of "1.8 million tonnes of carbon pollution" could be achieved, as well as the creation of assumed 42,000 jobs and "billions of dollars in revenue" as a result of investments in new and innovative technologies.

While current recycling technologies are only able to break plastic bottles down to chemical building blocks that are suitable for reuse in clothing and carpets, the new enzyme makes it possible to recycle plastic bottles and make new bottles out of them. The French company Carbios cooperates with companies like Pepsi and says that it is aiming to bring the new recycling technology to industrial size within five years.