Plastic straws and bags no more: Canada aims to clean up its act

[webfact]

Plastic straws and bags no more: Canada aims to clean up its act

By Steve Scherer and Tyler Choi

 

FILE PHOTO: Canada's Prime Minister, Justin Trudeau speaks on stage during an event to commemorate the 75th anniversary of D-Day, in Portsmouth, Britain, June 5, 2019. Chris Jackson/Pool via Reuters

 

OTTAWA (Reuters) - Canada plans to ban some single-use plastics like straws, bags and cutlery by early 2021 to reduce non-recyclable waste and protect the world's oceans, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said on Monday.

 

Trudeau announced the move from the banks of a lake in Gault Nature Reserve in Quebec less than five months before a national election in which climate change and pollution are among the top campaign issues.

 

"To be honest, as a dad, it's tough trying to explain this to my kids. How do you explain dead whales washing up on beaches around the world, their stomachs jam-packed with plastic bags?" Trudeau said.

 

"As parents we're at a point when we take our kids to the beach and we have to search out a patch of sand that isn't littered with straws, Styrofoam or bottles. That's a problem, one that we have to do something about."

 

Canada's move follows one by the European Parliament, which voted earlier this year to ban several single-use plastic products, and recent disputes with the Philippines and Malaysia over Canadian waste shipped to them.

 

Less than 10% of plastic used in Canada gets recycled, and Canadians will throw away an estimated C$11 billion (6.5 billion pounds) worth of plastic materials each year by 2030 without a change in course, the government said in a statement.

 

Canada has delayed implementation until 2021 to allow time for a "science-based" decision on exactly which plastics "are harmful to the environment and human health," according to a government statement.

 

It will also give businesses time to adjust.

 

"The restaurateurs will take a hit, but some of the extra cost will be passed onto consumers, too," said Claudio Fracassi, owner of the Soup Guy Plus restaurant in central Ottawa.

 

He uses Styrofoam soup cups and plastic utensils, but plans to switch to paper products, which cost more, he said.

 

"I want to save the environment. I recycle. But I want more choices (of non-plastic products) and the emphasis should be put on the manufacturer," Fracassi said.

 

Canada may require manufacturers to use a set amount of recycled content, the government said. Also, federal and provincial authorities will work together so that companies, rather than just municipalities, take more responsibility for the recycling process.

 

The Canadian Federation of Independent Business called for an assessment of the economic impacts of the ban.

 

"If done hastily, this policy could add a whole lot of new red tape to their plates," CFIB President Dan Kelly said in a statement.

 

Canada recently became entangled in a political dispute with the Philippines over 1,500 tons of household waste - mislabelled as recyclable plastics - shipped to Southeast Asia in 2013 and 2014. Canada agreed to take it back last month after a protracted diplomatic spat.

 

Malaysia similarly said it would return 3,000 tons of plastic waste from Canada, the United States, Japan and the United Kingdom.

 

"The issue of plastic pollution will increasingly be seen as an issue for developing countries that feel they are being dumped with waste from rich countries that should be taking care of their own waste internally," said Sara Seck, a Dalhousie University law professor.

 

(Reporting by Steve Scherer and Tyler Choi; Editing by Chizu Nomiyama, Steve Orlofsky and Dan Grebler)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2019-06-11

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[Tug]

Good for you Canada fine responsibil people

[thaibeachlovers]

Virtue signalling. The majority of plastic in the ocean comes from countries far away from Canada, and what are they going to do about that?

They stopped single use ( that's a lie- supermarket bags get used for loads of things after being taken home ) plastic bags in New Zealand, but almost every single thing bought in the supermarket is wrapped in plastic. It's a scam by government to pretend they are doing something, when they ain't.

They could eliminate the problem tomorrow if they wanted- add a return fee to everything, like used to be on bottles, and everything will be collected by the poor if not by the rich.

 

As usual, the simple solution isn't done. They could have replaced free plastic bags with free paper bags, like used to be, but it's a scam by supermarkets to make more money. I take the plastic bags they used to give away when I go shopping ( I kept them at home after they said they were going to stop using them. Not going to fall for that trick.

Most plastic could be replaced by biodegradable, but they'd rather ban them.

Are they going to replace plastic straws with the paper ones like used to be? That reminds me- I'd better stock up with plastic ones.

[losworld]

1 minute ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Virtue signalling. The majority of plastic in the ocean comes from countries far away from Canada, and what are they going to do about that?

They stopped single use ( that's a lie- supermarket bags get used for loads of things after being taken home ) plastic bags in New Zealand, but almost every single thing bought in the supermarket is wrapped in plastic. It's a scam by government to pretend they are doing something, when they ain't.

They could eliminate the problem tomorrow if they wanted- add a return fee to everything, like used to be on bottles, and everything will be collected by the poor if not by the rich.

 

As usual, the simple solution isn't done. They could have replaced free plastic bags with free paper bags, like used to be, but it's a scam by supermarkets to make more money. I take the plastic bags they used to give away when I go shopping ( I kept them at home after they said they were going to stop using them. Not going to fall for that trick.

Most plastic could be replaced by biodegradable, but they'd rather ban them.

Are they going to replace plastic straws with the paper ones like used to be? That reminds me- I'd better stock up with plastic ones.

Sounds similar to other ideas like not researching clean coal and eliminating coal while countries like China go full force with it.  You can't have a fire in one room of your house without affecting the rest of the house.  Wake up and push for strongly enforced international deals or you are just making your country less competitive.  Trudeau needs to go back to drama class or whatever he was doing prior to his red carpet political career.

[Chomper Higgot]

4 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Virtue signalling. The majority of plastic in the ocean comes from countries far away from Canada, and what are they going to do about that?

They stopped single use ( that's a lie- supermarket bags get used for loads of things after being taken home ) plastic bags in New Zealand, but almost every single thing bought in the supermarket is wrapped in plastic. It's a scam by government to pretend they are doing something, when they ain't.

They could eliminate the problem tomorrow if they wanted- add a return fee to everything, like used to be on bottles, and everything will be collected by the poor if not by the rich.

 

As usual, the simple solution isn't done. They could have replaced free plastic bags with free paper bags, like used to be, but it's a scam by supermarkets to make more money. I take the plastic bags they used to give away when I go shopping ( I kept them at home after they said they were going to stop using them. Not going to fall for that trick.

Most plastic could be replaced by biodegradable, but they'd rather ban them.

Are they going to replace plastic straws with the paper ones like used to be? That reminds me- I'd better stock up with plastic ones.

It’s called leading by example.

 

 

[losworld]

Just now, Chomper Higgot said:

It’s called leading by example.

 

 

And who is following?????

[Chomper Higgot]

Just now, losworld said:

And who is following?????

Watch and learn.

[thaibeachlovers]

1 minute ago, Chomper Higgot said:

It’s called leading by example.

 

 

You missed my point that banning plastic bags and straws does almost nothing to stop pollution. When they ban plastic food wrapping in supermarkets I'll take them seriously.

[Dexlowe]

15 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

You missed my point that banning plastic bags and straws does almost nothing to stop pollution. When they ban plastic food wrapping in supermarkets I'll take them seriously.

Agreed, but there needs to be another way to reduce spoilage and waste, otherwise food costs will go up massively. Maybe there's a chemical solution ( ???? ). Plastics that dissolve into harmless solids with an inert chemical and then safely buried.

[Chomper Higgot]

23 minutes ago, thaibeachlovers said:

You missed my point that banning plastic bags and straws does almost nothing to stop pollution. When they ban plastic food wrapping in supermarkets I'll take them seriously.

So let’s do nothing until we do what you think is most important/the most perfect thing to do.

 

[Vacuum]

On 6/11/2019 at 1:42 AM, webfact said:

as a dad, it's tough trying to explain this to my kids

You could show them pictures of some of the Thai beaches.

 

Edit. Not only the beaches, more or less all over the country.

[thaibeachlovers]

8 minutes ago, Chomper Higgot said:

So let’s do nothing until we do what you think is most important/the most perfect thing to do.

 

???????????????????

So you don't think that they should stop using non biodegradable plastic food wrapping?

They could have that in place in a few months if they wanted to.

 

I absolutely want less pollution, because it destroys everything and kills fish and sea animals.

It irks me to throw out all that plastic I bring home from the supermarket when it's totally un necessary.

Re supermarket bags- I re used them for many different things, and only threw them out when they ripped.

The technology exists to convert plastic into roading, so why don't they do that instead of just banning things. That's the easy way, and is mainly meaningless.

[Chomper Higgot]

1 hour ago, thaibeachlovers said:

???????????????????

So you don't think that they should stop using non biodegradable plastic food wrapping?

They could have that in place in a few months if they wanted to.

 

I absolutely want less pollution, because it destroys everything and kills fish and sea animals.

It irks me to throw out all that plastic I bring home from the supermarket when it's totally un necessary.

Re supermarket bags- I re used them for many different things, and only threw them out when they ripped.

The technology exists to convert plastic into roading, so why don't they do that instead of just banning things. That's the easy way, and is mainly meaningless.

How about this as a more supportive response:

 

“This is a positive step in the right direction and we could move on to address these other issues too.”

 

Back good ideas and go easy on hitting your short cut key to the term ‘Virtue Signaling’.

 

[thaibeachlovers]

2 hours ago, Chomper Higgot said:

How about this as a more supportive response:

 

“This is a positive step in the right direction and we could move on to address these other issues too.”

 

Back good ideas and go easy on hitting your short cut key to the term ‘Virtue Signaling’.

 

 Because there is nothing positive about it. He could have announced a real program to actually deal with plastic pollution, but didn't.

New Zealand banned single use plastic bags, and far as I know have no plans to do anything about all the other plastic that comes with almost everything in the supermarket. I don't expect Canada to be any different.

Banning plastic bags is easy. Getting rid of all the plastic food wrap is hard. He chose the easy option. As I said, virtue signalling.

 

However, be sure to get back to us when Canada announces an extensive and far reaching plan to remove plastic from as much food as possible in supermarkets.

 

 

[Credo]

4 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

 Because there is nothing positive about it. He could have announced a real program to actually deal with plastic pollution, but didn't.

New Zealand banned single use plastic bags, and far as I know have no plans to do anything about all the other plastic that comes with almost everything in the supermarket. I don't expect Canada to be any different.

Banning plastic bags is easy. Getting rid of all the plastic food wrap is hard. He chose the easy option. As I said, virtue signalling.

 

However, be sure to get back to us when Canada announces an extensive and far reaching plan to remove plastic from as much food as possible in supermarkets.

 

 

Virtue signaling?   Really?   

 

The longest journey starts with a single step.

[ExpatOilWorker]

No straws makes Canada an environment hero, really?

The yellow stuff is sulphur from oil sands.

 

 

 

[bristolboy]

18 hours ago, losworld said:

Sounds similar to other ideas like not researching clean coal and eliminating coal while countries like China go full force with it.  You can't have a fire in one room of your house without affecting the rest of the house.  Wake up and push for strongly enforced international deals or you are just making your country less competitive.  Trudeau needs to go back to drama class or whatever he was doing prior to his red carpet political career.

Please. There's been plenty of research on clean coal. And huge costly attempts to use it. And the conclusion has always been that there's no such thing as clean coal. Only slightly less filthy coal.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kemper_Project

Anyway, the cost of coal plants vs. solar or wind is now astronomically high. In a free market, coal is not competitive. The levelized cost of a solar or wind powered facility is now actually less than just the operating cost of a coal powered facility.

[bristolboy]

10 hours ago, Credo said:

Virtue signaling?   Really?   

 

The longest journey starts with a single step.

What he's doing was summarized by Aristototle over 2 millenia ago: Making the perfect the enemy of the good.