Ahead of ban, Canadians are already using less plastic: study

Ottawa –

Canada appears to be gradually reducing its use of plastic straws and shopping bags ahead of a nationwide ban that takes effect next month, new statistics show.

The Canadian government wants to curb plastic pollution in the country by the end of 2010, as negotiations for a formal plastics control treaty begin this week in Uruguay.

Canada is one of nearly 30 countries working hard towards an international agreement to end the world’s plastic pollution by 2040.

Environment Minister Steven Guilbeau tweeted: “Enough is enough.

About 22 million tonnes of plastic end up in lakes, rivers, oceans and other places around the world every year, he said. Approximately 29,000 tons of plastic waste (mainly packaging) enters the environment in Canada each year.

Another 3.3 million tons of plastic waste ends up in landfills. Less than a tenth of the plastic Canadians throw away is actually recycled.

To reduce all plastic waste, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau pledged in 2019 to ban some single-use plastics by 2021. Do it.

The final regulations were announced in June, and as of December 20, it will no longer be legal in Canada to manufacture or import most plastic shopping bags, straws, stir sticks, cutlery and takeout containers. After one year, the sale of those items will also be prohibited.

In June 2023, the manufacture and import of 6-pack plastic rings for beverage containers will be banned, and sales will end one year later.

The six single-use items the government is about to launch meet two criteria. They often pollute nature and can replace readily available substitutes that already exist.

Leading up to the ban, some Canadian retailers have aggressively moved away from single-use items, grocery stores such as Sobeys have done away with plastic carry bags, and many restaurants have replaced plastic straws with paper. replaced with straws.

There are already early signs that the use of some plastic products is declining.

According to Statistics Canada’s biennial Household and Environment Survey, between 2019 and 2021, the number of Canadians who regularly use plastic straws will decline slightly, and they will return to shopping. An increase in the number of Canadians who more regularly remember to bring available bags.

In 2019, 23% of Canadians reported using at least one plastic straw per week, but two years later that number had dropped to 20%. Manitoba was the only state to buck the trend, with 29% of respondents using at least one straw in her week in 2021, compared to 26% in 2019.

Residents of Quebec use the least straws, with 16% reporting using at least one straw per week in 2021, a number largely unchanged from 2019.

According to Statistics Canada, 97% of Canadians will be using their own reusable bags or containers when shopping for groceries in 2021, up from 96% in 2019. 51% in 2021.

Eliminating single-use shopping bags could have the biggest impact in Saskatchewan. In 2021, fewer than 2 in 5 of her respondents remembered their bag or trash can each time they shopped, a proportion that was 3 times lower than her two years ago. Increasing from less than 1.

More than two-thirds of people in Quebec say they always shop with their own bag or bottle, up slightly from 3 in 5 in 2019.

Canada is in talks to develop national standards for plastic products to facilitate the recycling of plastic products. The country’s low recycling rate is partly responsible for the fact that it uses a wide variety of plastics that are difficult for recycling facilities to process.

Canada is one of the most wasteful countries in the world. On average, Canadians throw out 706 kilograms of garbage each year, according to World Bank data on municipal solid waste.

Among the G7 countries, this is higher than any other country except the United States, which throws away 812 kilograms per person each year. The average is 609 kg in Germany, 548 kg in France, 499 kg in Italy, 463 kg in the UK and 399 kg in Japan.

When industrial, electronic and business waste is taken into account, Canada comes out on top internationally, producing over 36 tons of garbage per person per year.

This report by the Canadian Press was first published on November 29, 2022.