Like most other countries around the world, Canada has a toxic relationship with single-use plastic. It is estimated that Canadian households generate more than 3 million tons of plastic waste every year, only 9 percent of which gets recycled — while the rest ends up in landfills and polluting the environment. But starting next year, Canadians are expected to say goodbye to disposable plastic items.
Checkout bags, straws, stir sticks, six-pack rings, and take-out containers will all become a thing of the past for Canadians, thanks to a nationwide ban that will take effect by the end of 2021. The move is part of a larger national plan to achieve a circular system for plastics by 2030.
“Plastic pollution threatens our natural environment. It fills our rivers and lakes, and most particularly our oceans, choking the wildlife that lives there,” Canadian Environment Minister Jonathan Wilkinson recently announced. “Canadians see the impact that pollution has from coast to coast to coast.”
