Canada's single-use plastics ban starts this week. Here's what it includes
The federal government aims to improve sustainability and protect biodiversity with the national single-use plastics ban.
The Canadian government's ban on single-use plastics goes into effect on December 20, 2022.
This ban prohibits the manufacture and import for sale of items including checkout bags, cutlery, food service ware made from or containing plastics that are difficult to recycle, stir sticks, and straws.
However, there are exceptions to the ban on straws to allow for single-use plastic flexible straws for people that require them for medical or accessibility reasons.
Manufacturing and importing plastic ring carriers for beverages will be banned on June 23, 2023.
These six categories of plastic items were chosen based on research indicating that they are commonly found in the environment, harmful to wildlife, difficult to recycle, and have readily available alternatives.
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Officials estimate that this ban will eliminate over 1.3 million tonnes of hard-to-recycle plastic waste and more than 22,000 tonnes of plastic pollution — a volume that is equivalent to over one million full garbage bags. Just 9 per cent of plastic waste is recycled, while the rest ends up in the environment.
“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,” Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Environment and Climate Change, said in a press release.
Canada’s Action Plan on Zero Plastic Waste aims to “better prevent, reduce, reuse, recover, capture and clean up plastic waste and pollution” and eventually realize a vision of zero plastic waste.
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