TORONTO, Ontario, May 12, 2020 \u2013 Today, the Council of the Great Lakes Region (CGLR) is pleased to announce that it has received financial support from Environment and Climate Change Canada to spearhead two innovative projects targeting plastic litter in the Great Lakes and the loss of valuable materials to landfills in Ontario. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
The first project employs two innovative technologies, the Seabin (https:\/\/seabinproject.com\/<\/a>) and LittaTrap (https:\/\/www.enviropod.com\/<\/a>), to capture and recover plastic debris at marinas along Ontario\u2019s Great Lakes shorelines. The project is being rolled out in partnership with Pollution Probe, Boating Ontario, the University of Toronto Trash Team, PortsToronto, EnviroPod, Water Products and Solutions-America, and Poralu Marine. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The second\nproject, undertaken in collaboration with the United States Business Council\nfor Sustainable Development (USBCSD) and Pollution Probe, will use the USBCSD\u2019s\nnovel, cloud-based materials marketplace platform to create and pilot a materials\nmarketplace in Ontario for the industrial, commercial, and institutional sector,\na first in Canada. Once running, the marketplace will connect Ontario\nbusinesses and institutions to develop and scale new reuse and recycling market\nopportunities for hard-to-recycle and by-product materials, keeping their value\nin economy and out of our landfills. This project also aims to link Ontario\u2019s\nmaterials marketplace pilot to existing marketplaces in Michigan and Ohio, creating\nregional trade opportunities and supporting the shift to a circular economy. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cWe are\npleased to support the Council of the Great Lakes Region in these two\ninnovative projects aimed at not only protecting the Great Lakes from plastic\npollution, but also preventing plastic waste by diverting valuable materials\nfrom landfills. These initiatives are in line with the Government of Canada\u2019s\ngoal to move the country to zero plastic waste, which includes working with\nindustry and governments to recycle at least 55% of plastic packaging by 2030,\u201d\nsaid Jonathan Wilkinson, Minister of Environment and Climate Change\nCanada. <\/p>\n\n\n\n \u201cPlastic\nlitter in the Great Lakes and the loss of valuable materials to landfills is significant\nand results from a flawed, linear business model and poor recycling. This\nfunding will help us shift to better, circular business systems while capturing\nand cleaning up plastic pollution already in the lakes,\u201d said Mark Fisher,\nPresident and CEO, Council of the Great Lakes Region.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The initial\nphase of these projects will run to March 31, 2021. Both projects are part of CGLR\u2019s\nefforts to create a cross-border, circular economy in the binational Great\nLakes region, home to 107 million people, the engine of the North American\neconomy, and the largest freshwater system in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n According\nto the Rochester Institute of Technology, plastic debris accounts for around\n80% of the litter found on the Great Lakes shoreline. In fact, each year, an estimated 22\nmillion pounds of plastics enter the Great Lakes. <\/p>\n\n\n\n The\nUniversity of Waterloo estimates curtailing Great Lakes plastic pollution could\ncost more than $400 million annually through beach and waterway cleanups,\npublic anti-littering campaigns, and the development and deployment of advanced\nrecycling and stormwater capture technologies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n During a recent PortsToronto pilot of Seabins in Toronto\u2019s Outer Harbour Marina, a partnership with student researchers from the University of Toronto\u2019s Trash Team, found that two Seabins collected up to two kilograms of litter per day, capturing a wide array of plastic pollution, including microplastics, and other debris.<\/p>\n\n\n\n With respect\nto the Materials Marketplace, the platform is currently in use by over 2,100\nbusinesses and organizations across North America, 1,300 of which are doing business in\nthe binational Great Lakes economic region. <\/p>\n\n\n\n Since its inception, the\nMaterials Marketplace program has helped identify new end-markets for over\n2,000 tons of hard-to-recycle materials and by-product materials, and is being\nused on a daily basis by leading companies to source recycled feedstocks to\nhelp reach recycled content and sustainability goals. The platform, designed by\nthe USBCSD, received a Circulars: Digital Disruptor award from the World Economic\nForum and a Project of the Year award from Environmental Leader in 2016.<\/p>\n\n\n\n About the Council of the Great Lakes Region<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n Established\nin 2013, the Council is a binational, member-driven, non-profit corporation\nthat is dedicated to deepening the United States-Canada relationship in the\nGreat Lakes economic region. It focuses on creating stronger, more dynamic cross-border\ncollaborations in harnessing the region\u2019s economic strengths and assets,\nimproving the well-being and prosperity of the region\u2019s citizens, and\nprotecting the Great Lakes watershed for future generations. It achieves this\nby connecting regional leaders through the annual Great Lakes Economic Forum\nand sector dialogues, exploring key trends shaping the region and proposing\nsolutions and strategies that move the region forward through public policy\nresearch, and acting as a strong voice for the region\u2019s varied socioeconomic\nand environmental interests.<\/p>\n\n\n\n -30-<\/p>\n\n\n\n Media Contact<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Financial support from Environment and Climate Change Canada will allow the Council of the Great Lakes Region to spearhead two innovative projects targeting plastic litter in the Great Lakes and the loss of valuable materials to landfills in Ontario.<\/p>\nRead more<\/a>","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":428,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[46,64,70,55],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-427","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-press-releases","category-circular-economy","category-sustainable-business","category-water-levels-climate-change"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/councilgreatlakesregion.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/shutterstock-1086691190.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/councilgreatlakesregion.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/councilgreatlakesregion.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/councilgreatlakesregion.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/councilgreatlakesregion.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/councilgreatlakesregion.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=427"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/councilgreatlakesregion.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1216,"href":"https:\/\/councilgreatlakesregion.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/427\/revisions\/1216"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/councilgreatlakesregion.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/428"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/councilgreatlakesregion.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=427"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/councilgreatlakesregion.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=427"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/councilgreatlakesregion.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=427"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}Mark Fisher
President and CEO
Council of the Great Lakes Region
613-668-2044 \/ mark@councilgreatlakesregion.org
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