The fight against plastic pollution continues. More and more countries are taking a stance with increasing regulations and laws and this includes Canada’s ban on single-use plastics. This officially went into effect yesterday, which prohibits the sale of specific plastic products in the country, including in Ontario and the GTA.
Canada’s ban on single-use plastics
You’re probably wondering how it’s going to work. For starters, here is the list of items that will be banned for manufacturing and import:
- Checkout bags
- Cutlery
- Food service ware made from or containing, problematic plastics that are hard to recycle
- Stir sticks
- Straws
According to the news release by Environment and Climate Change Canada (ECCC), this ban will help reduce 1.3 million tonnes of plastic waste over the next ten years. For ring carriers, the manufacture and import of those will be banned starting from June 2023.
1/3 We can #ProtectNature and #BeatPlasticPollution at the same time!
— Environment Canada (@environmentca) December 20, 2022
Today, the manufacture and import for sale in Canada of the following harmful single-use plastic items in Canada will end:
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This is all a part of the government’s plan to achieve its zero plastic waste goal. It is also in the process of working on and implementing other measures to help accelerate this. There’s even the creation of a public registry in the works to keep track of waste by plastic producers.
If you’re interested to find out more about the phases for the coming years, you can take a look at the full release online.