Some common items Canadians have gotten used to over the years will start to become scarce in the new year, not due to supply issues but due to a ban on the manufacture and import for sale of several single use plastics.
The ban begins tomorrow and will affect:
- checkout bags
- cutlery
- foodservice ware made from, or containing, problematic plastics that are hard to recycle
- stir sticks
- straws (with some exceptions)
The federal government is also working with the provinces, territories and industry with a collection target of 90 percent for recycling plastic beverage bottles.
It also is developing regulations that would require some plastic packaging to contain at a minimum 50 percent recycled content.
“With this ban, and our participation toward achieving a global treaty, we’re joining the global effort to reduce plastic pollution and protect our wildlife and habitats.” Said Minister of Environment and Climate Change Steven Guilbeault. “There is a clear linkage between a world free of plastic pollution and a sustainable world, rich in biodiversity—a world that also best supports the health and economic security of Canadians, protects our environment, and helps in the fight against climate change.”
It predicts over the next decade this will result in the elimination of an estimated one-point-three million tonnes of hard to recycle plastic waste and 22 thousand tonnes of plastic pollution, or the equivalent of over one million full garbage bags of plastic.
According to Minister of Fisheries, Oceans and the Canadian Coast Guard Joyce Murray, 8 million tonnes of plastic pollution enters the oceans from around the world. ”
The ban on single-use plastics is a significant step the Government of Canada is taking to mitigate this serious threat to the marine environment and protect our critical aquatic ecosystems, so they remain healthy and abundant for the next seven generations.”
Additionally new ways of carrying six packs of your favourite non-alcoholic or alcoholic beverage will have to be found as the ban on the manufacture and import of ring carriers will take effect in June of 2023.
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