Analyzing Canada's "Ban" On Single-Use Plastics
- Hannah MacRae
- Oct 13, 2020
- 3 min read
Updated: Oct 15, 2020
One of the campaign promises of the Liberal Party of Canada during the 2019 federal election was a ban on single-use plastics. Last week, Environment Minister Jonathan Wilkinson announced the list of items that will be banned for sale in Canada, and said that the finalized regulations will be ready by the end of 2021.
The full list of items that will be banned consists of:
· Plastic grocery bags
· Straws
· Stir sticks
· Six-pack rings
· Plastic cutlery
· Takeout containers made of plastics that are hard to recycle (ex. black plastic)
The promise for the single-use plastic ban was made in 2019, and many things have changed for Canadians since the plans were initially announced. Many have asked how the ban on single-use plastics will affect restaurants and food providers that have become dependent on the above items to conduct take-out operations during the COVID-19 pandemic. Wilkinson says that this specific list of items was chosen due to the availability of more environmentally-friendly alternatives that can be obtained in an affordable way by businesses already struggling due to COVID-19.
While this ban on some single-use plastic items may sound appealing, some critics point out that the introduction of alternatives in place of the banned plastic items does not truly represent a shift from a disposable economy. For example, before the COVID-19 pandemic, many grocery stores across the country stopped offering plastic bags at checkouts, instead providing paper bags for customers who did not bring their own. A 2011 study by the Northern Ireland Assembly found that it takes more than four times as much energy to manufacture a paper grocery bag as it does to manufacture a plastic one. In addition, a study from Dr. Rebecca Taylor at the University of Sydney found that a plastic grocery bag ban in California led to the sale of 5.4 million kgs more of garbage bags, as consumers could no longer use their plastic grocery bags as garbage bags.
However, the debate on the environmental impacts of the production of plastics vs. plastic alternatives doesn’t take into consideration what happens at the end of each product’s useful life. The Canadian ban on single-use plastics follows a scientific assessment of the environmental impact of single use plastics. A January 2020 impact assessment found that in 2016, 29,000 tonnes of plastic garbage ended up as litter found at Canadian beaches, lakes, and wild areas, and found some evidence that microplastics (pieces of plastic smaller than 5 mm) are negatively impacting wildlife. The alarming findings of the 2020 study have prompted over $2.2 million to be invested in more specific research on the impacts of microplastics.
Considering this stark reality, and the evidence provided by the assessment report, according to Wilkinson, this “ban” on single-use plastics is an essential first step to reaching the federal government’s goal of zero plastic waste by 2030, and the listed items only represent a tiny fraction of the plastics most Canadians use in our everyday lives.
Notable exclusions from the list of banned plastic materials are plastic water bottles and disposable coffee cups. Canadians consume over 2 billion plastic water bottles per year, and the production of bottled water has caused conflicts with many communities across Canada, particularly Indigenous communities that oppose the pumping of water from local wells for bottled water production. With such important exclusions from the list of banned single-use plastics, and ongoing research on microplastics, it is possible that more restrictions will be on the way. For now, this announcement represents a significant first step for reducing plastic waste in Canada, but concerned citizens should continue to evaluate government action on this issue, and ask themselves “how can we shift away from single use items altogether?”
Sources:
Yorumlar