The US-sparked trade war with Canada – and pretty much every other country – is a garbage issue. By that, I mean it’s going to seriously mess with how much stuff we buy…and throw away. And that presents an opportunity for us to do things better – for the environment and the health of our communities.
People in Canada are big consumers. We buy a lot – and throw away more per person than the people of any other country. That’s right, we win the gold medal for garbage. Most of the goods we buy are imported – electronics, toys, furnishings, clothing, even food and packaging – much of which ends up in the garbage after a brief use. That’s why our landfills are filling up and there’s a panic to find alternatives to stow our trash, including burning it (which is a terrible idea).
Learn more about dangers of waste incineration
So back to the trade war. Tariffs on Canadian goods going into the US will hurt industries – and affect jobs – up here. Meanwhile, tariffs on US imports and a lower Canadian dollar makes the goods we buy here more expensive.
Canada’s oil, gas, mining and manufacturing industries are looking for other export markets to replace the US, but what about a different approach to support workers and business in Canada while protecting the climate and our communities from pollution? This brings us back to garbage – or, more precisely, producing less of it.
Our “take-make-waste” linear economy demands a constant supply of raw materials – largely extracted from Indigenous territories in Canada and beyond – and generates millions of tonnes of scrap and waste that end up dumped in landfills, burned in incinerators or exported to other countries – including the US.
This is damaging to the environment and disproportionately harmful to people – including Indigenous, low-income and racialized communities – living near extraction, production and waste facilities. The story of plastic in Canada is a sad example.
Instead of simply finding other trading partners and continuing these wasteful and harmful ways, Canada should move quickly to adopt economic approaches that prioritize keeping the resources already in the economy to give them a new life. It is essential to reject the idea that we need to choose between the environment and the economy: the very basis of any economy and a good life is a healthy environment.
Here are three places governments, businesses and non-profits can prioritize to create a win for the economy and the environment:
- Support and improve refill systems for food and beverages. As trade in virgin packaging, recycling and waste becomes more complicated and expensive, so does single-use packaging. It will make more and more sense for companies to stop relying on garbage, single-use containers. What’s more, people want to buy food “made in Canada. Refillable containers would be a wonderful way to market food grown and/or made locally. This is the perfect time to implement refillable packaging at grocery stores and restaurants and for a national deposit-return program for beverage containers.
- Expand the repair, refurbish and resale sector. Price spikes for new electronics alone will boost the trend of buying refurbished phones and computers from local sellers. The federal government can support it by implementing the Right to Repair and all levels of government can fund expanded infrastructure for repair and refurbishment to create new jobs in this sector. There is so much stuff – furniture, appliances, tools, bikes, clothing – that deserve another life instead of a trip to the dump. “Repaired in Canada” has a nice ring to it.
- Support sharing. Book libraries are very important and must be well funded. How about growing the library movement to include more tools, sporting goods and stuff that we tend to only use from time to time? Most of us don’t need to have a power drill or camping tent at our disposal 24-7. Municipalities and Indigenous communities should be supported to scale up sharing libraries for all kinds of goods.
We didn’t ask for this trade war, but that doesn’t mean we can’t use it to build resilient and sustainable local economies.
