The end is coming for plastic grocery bags, straws and cutlery as the federal government announced today what single-use plastics will be covered by a national ban coming into effect next year.
Environment Minister Jonathan Wilkinson unveiled the list of soon-to-be-banned items during an announcement Wednesday morning at the Canadian Museum of History in Gatineau, Que.
When compiling its list, the government said it considered plastics that are harmful to the environment, hard to recycle and whether there were readily available alternatives.
The single-use plastics that will be banned include six items:
- Grocery checkout bags
- Straws
- Stir sticks
- Six-pack rings
- Plastic cutlery
- Food takeout containers made from hard-to-recycle plastics (like the black plastic packaging)
The regulations to bring in the ban will be finalized by the end of 2021, said Wilkinson.
“When a ban comes into effect, your local stores will be providing you with alternatives to these plastic products like reuseable or paper bags in place of plastic,” he said.
“I know it is presently hard to come back from the grocery store without a single use plastic item, particularly around packaging around food. You use it, you throw it in the recycling bin and more often then not, it ends up in a landfill. This has to change, which is why we’ll be working with grocers and industry leaders and provinces and territories to keep more plastic in our economy through recycling.”
Wilkinson said the ban will not include plastics used to make personal protective gear or medical waste.
The ban, which follows some local bans on single-use plastics, is happening under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, which required a scientific assessment of the problem first.
That report, released in January, said that in 2016, 29,000 tonnes of plastic garbage, the equivalent of about 2.3 billion single-use plastic water bottles, ended up as litter in Canada — on beaches, in parks, in lakes and even in the air.
The report looked at the impact of all types of plastics and pointed to evidence that macroplastics — pieces bigger than 5 mm — are hurting wildlife.
Dead birds were found with plastic in their intestines, whales had washed up on shore with stomachs full of plastic (including flip flops and nylon ropes) and in one case, the study noted that an emaciated turtle was found with plastic in its digestive tract.
The evidence was less clear about the harmful impacts of ingesting microplastics for people and wildlife, and the scientists recommended further study.
At the time, Wilkinson said the evidence on the effect of macroplastics was enough to go ahead with the ban.
