Canada to ban single-use plastics by 2021

Canadian government will ban single-use plastic by 2021 as a respond to the negative impacts of leaving plastics in nature and the growing need to teach consumer to make “smart choices”.

There is a lengthy list of items that will be banned which includes straws, drink stirrers, plates, cutlery and balloon sticks, among others.

The announcement is yet another reminder about how the proliferation of single-use plastic around the world is accelerating climate change and should be urgently halted. Contributing largely to greenhouse gas emissions at every stage of its lifecycle, from its production to its refining and the way it is managed as a waste product, it obviously poses threats to all life-forms on earth.

Canadian Prime Minister, talks about the government efforts to reach every province and territory to develop and promote strategies on zero plastic waste. 

He also underscored their move to reach-out to private sectors , especially to big companies and businesses that are greatly responsible for the production and use of the single use plastic materials.

As a proof of how serious the government is with this advocact Trudeau is planning to hold “the Coca-Colas and the Unilevers of the world” responsible for the entire life cycle of all the products they produce than just passing the challenge to much smaller businesses.

This move was ignited by the news about the Philippines sending back some 1,500 tons of rotting garbage to Canada which, according to the Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, was illegally shipped by Canadian government to Manila.

This brought in picture the deplorable state of plastic recycling in the country , which, according to the official statement, is less than 11 percent of plastic used in Canada. With the rate of garbage wastage in the country that reaches more than 34 million plastic bags, this is enough to cause real worry for the kind of environment the next generation of Canadians will live in.