Mind Your Plastic is a registered Canadian charity that started in 2016 with a mission to eliminate plastic pollution in Canada.
Through our work advocating with municipal government for policies that better regulate materials used in our economy, working alongside Canadian businesses to give consumers better plastic-free choices, and our direct action programming, like our Circular Economy Ambassador Program, we are moving towards a plastic pollution-free future for #PlasticFreeLandAndSeas.
Annually, over 300 million tons of plastic is produced around the world and unfortunately, more than 90% of that plastic is not recycled. Distressingly enough, much of that plastic ends up in our oceans with at least 8 million tons of plastic being dumped into the ocean each year. While plastic has become pervasive in our environment and homes, there are changes each of us can make to improve the situation, and that is what Mind Your Plastic is here to do!
OUR VISION
We envision a Canada without plastic pollution.
OUR MISSION
Mind Your Plastic’s mission is to eliminate plastic pollution in Canada.
OUR GOAL
Change consumer behaviour, corporate and public policy, and foster solutions to plastic pollution.
What's Next For 2023?
The organization’s main goal is to take an advocacy-based approach to influence municipalities to incorporate limitations on single-use plastics. We will work with Canadian businesses to create changes in their plastic use to reduce plastic at the source. Additionally, we will continue to operate our annual Circular Economy Ambassador Program with a focus on finding ways to recycle, repurpose and reuse the plastic that is cleaned up while collecting valuable data. These focuses are broken down below.
Municipal Policy
Municipalities are leading the way when it comes to creating change within communities. In 2023 we are working with municipalities, like The Town of Ajax, to develop best practices for a plastic-free community. Additionally, we are working with municipalities to develop by-laws that support plastic-free initiatives, like our Plastic-Free Events Policy!
Canadian Businesses
Mind Your Plastic will be working with Canadian businesses to introduce our Plastic Awareness and Reduction Toolkits. These toolkits include best practices to transition to less harmful and hard to recycle plastic packaging that are aligned with the Canada Plastic Pact’s Golden Design Rules.
Circular Economy Ambassador Program (CEAP)
We will continue to operate and grow our annual Circular Economy Ambassador Program with the focus on collecting and analyzing data as well as identifying local solutions to divert as much waste from landfills. These solutions will form the basis of our local repository that can be shared across the nation for all clean up efforts. In 2022, we expanded our program to include 3,000 students of all ages across all Canadian provinces and even extended it into a year-round program! In 2023, we hope to continue growing this program to include 5,000 participants in every part of Canada.