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OTTAWA — Canada plans to use its presidency of the G7 this year to push fellow member countries to help stop the oceans from becoming massive rubbish heaps. 

At the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Trudeau hosted a roundtable discussion Wednesday on ocean protection with academics, political representatives and executives from multinationals including Coca-Cola and Unilever. 

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He told the assembled group Canada is using its G7 year to bring forward issues that don’t always get a lot of attention at the highest levels of international governance, including ocean protection, “particularly around plastics and pollution.” 

In an interview later, Environment Minister Catherine McKenna said that could include creating a “plastics charter or a zero waste goal.” 

The problem is no fairy tale message in a single bottle floating across the sea. 

It’s estimated as much as eight million tonnes of plastic ends up in the world’s oceans each year.  That’s the equivalent of approximately 630 billion single-use plastic water bottles.