The announcement by the Honourable Jonathan Wilkinson, Minister of Environment and Climate Change (ECCC), was made at the Globe Forum 20/20 held at the Vancouver Convention Centre West in British Columbia. The Globe Series is North America’s largest and longest-running leadership summit for sustainable business.

Wilkinson spoke on the government’s approach to achieving a future with zero plastic waste. To that end, the government is launching six new plastics challenges and three clean technology challenges.

The challenges address multiple issues and call on innovators to develop solutions to a number of plastic pollution-related problems, including finding alternatives to packaging, diverting vehicle plastic from landfills, reducing e-waste and monitoring microplastics in marine environments.

Plastic is a growing threat to Canada’s environment and we need to act to reduce plastic pollution,” he said, reports Canadian Manufacturing. “Today’s announcements are about tapping into Canada’s incredible potential to change how we produce, how we use and how we recover plastic waste.”

Yesterday at #GLOBE2020, Minister Wilkinson congratulated the BC Cleantech CEO Alliance for the release of the KPMG report. The GoC is proud to help the #CleanTech industry flourish across Canada with funding programs that foster innovation. @KPMG_Canadahttps://t.co/vofujD3SnA pic.twitter.com/tC04NRRjQG

— Environment Canada (@environmentca) February 13, 2020

Three companies win $1 million each

Montreal-based Axipolymer Inc. develops new products and artificial intelligence for the polymer industry. The company was founded in 2017 by Dr. Ata Zad, a polymer science graduate of École Polytechnique de Montreal with over a decade of experience working for such companies as Teknor Apex and Solmax. Axipolymer Inc will create a recyclable multi-layer film that can be used for food packaging,

GreenMantra Technologies in Brantford, Ontario produces value-added synthetic waxes, polymer additives and other chemicals from post-consumer and post-industrial recycled plastics. In 2017, the company announced it had developed technology to convert waste polystyrene into styrenic polymers for use in ink formulation and insulation applications. GreenMantra plans to transform polystyrene insulation waste into new insulation.

Calgary-based MgO Systems manufactures C3 Engineered Wall System™ that combines C3 Fireboard with an insulating core to create an advanced structurally insulated panel or “SIP.” Their plan is to use PVC construction waste to make new insulating materials.