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On Wednesday (Oct 7), the Environment and Climate Change Minister Mr. Jonathan Wilkinson has announced that Canada will ban the use of single-use plastic products by end of the next year. Meanwhile the announcement, he acknowledged that the country is trailing Europe in recycling.
He added, “We are not leading the world in this. Many countries in Europe, including the United Kingdom, have gone down this path and we have certainly learned from the work that they have done.”
The ban will target plastic straws, checkout bags, stir sticks, cutlery, food ware and six-pack rings which are made of hard-to-recycle plastics. The ban is a part of a broader plan to eliminate plastic waste by the year 2030, which is the core of climate and environmental agenda of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau.
Mr. Wilkinson said that six single-use plastic products that are not easy to recycle and have more environmentally friendly alternatives will first be subject to Canada’s new restrictions on plastic products.
According to Ottawa, Canadians throw away at least 3 million tons of plastic waste every year, including 15 billion plastic bags and 57 million straws every day. Only 9 per cent of them are recycled. The aim of Ottawa is to increase this ratio to 90 per cent, in line with Europe’s goal for the year 2029.
The minister further said during a press conference that of the six single-use plastic products that will be banned, there are already readily available and affordable alternatives. There are many plastics that will have to continue to be used once. But they must be things that can be recycled and reused, can remain in the economy and cannot end up in the environment that causes the problem.
Ottawa also proposed establishing requirements for recyclable content requirements in products and packaging, hoping to promote recycling and invite better product designs to extend the life of plastic materials. It may also establish greater responsibility for the collection and recycling of plastics by manufacturers and sellers.
Canada intends to add single-use plastic to the list of toxic substances in accordance with the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, which is a requirement for prohibition. The decision is based on a scientific evaluation that found that plastics are everywhere in the environment, including plastic in the form of tiny particles, our food and water.
Although the impact on human health is not yet clear, but the harm to wildlife has been fully documented. Birds, turtles, fish and marine mammals often mistake plastic for food and many have dead due to a large amount of plastic in their stomachs.
