The new regulation will ban the sale and import of ‘harmful’ plastics, giving businesses time to adjust.
The Government of Canada has announced that it will ban the production and import of certain “harmful” varieties. single use plasticwith some new regulations that will come into effect in December.
The new rules, announced Monday, will apply to hard-to-recycle plastic payment bags, utensils, foodservice products, ring containers, stirrers and straws with some exceptions. the government announced in a statement.
“Our government is ready to reduce plastic pollution … That is why we are announcing today that our government is fulfilling its commitment to ban harmful single-use plastics,” Environment Secretary Steven Guilbeault said at a press conference on Monday. .
“This is a historic step towards defeating plastic pollution and keeping our communities, lands and oceans clean.”
The sale of such items will Prohibit Starting December 2023, a buffer period is meant to give businesses time to adjust to the changes and reduce their existing supply.
The government will also ban the export of six types of plastic by the end of 2025.
The federal government listed plastic as a hazardous substance under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act last year, paving the way for regulations banning some types. However, a consortium of plastic manufacturers is suing the government over the hazardous substance designation in a case that is expected to go to trial later this year.
The government says Canada uses 15 billion plastic check bags each year and 16 million straws a day.
A recent United Nations report stated that the global use of plastic is expected to triple by 2060 and annual production of fossil fuel-based plastics will reach more than 1.2 billion tons by the same year. The waste generated by such production levels would be more than 1 billion tons per year.
Such reports have contributed to growing global concern about the prevalence of plastics and the problems they cause with respect to pollution and environment.
We promised Canadians we would put a ban on single-use plastics.
That is exactly what we are announcing today.
This is a historic step towards reducing plastic pollution and keeping our communities, lands and oceans clean.https://t.co/3wZvoLB7aS pic.twitter.com/uRhYlywajn
– Steven Guilbeault (@s_guilbeault) June 20, 2022
Over the past 70 years, the world has produced about 8.3 billion tons of plastic, 60% of which has been removed in landfills, oceans and rivers, or burned.
Some Canadian manufacturing corporations have previously expressed their opposition to the proposed regulations, although the government has pledged to give businesses time to adjust. Conservative groups, such as the Montreal Economic Institute (MEI), have said that the regulations harm “potential innovations” in the plastics industry and “would hurt the economy without any. which guarantee helps the environment”. At least six percent of MEI funding comes from the oil and gas industry.
The Government of Canada said it was “consulting extensively to seek input to inform the development of the proposed Regulations and heard that businesses needed guidance on switch to available alternative products and systems”.
