10 June 2021
Canada has declared all plastic products as potentially toxic. The country is taking this revolutionary step so that it can further reduce the plastic in the environment. In doing so, Canada will follow a well-trodden path. A few years ago, plastic particles in personal care products was declared toxic by law which paved the way for a ban.
The new law is viewed as a legal basis for banning certain items from single use plastic (SUP). Then, just like in Europe, items such as plastic straws and stirrers may no longer be used.
The current list of toxic substances under Canadian environmental law – the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA) – will be extended to contain ‘plastic items’. This creates the space for plastic to potentially be declared toxic. This modification is the legal basis to evaluate each individual plastic product for risks to the environment and to human health. This will be the case if these products are found or may be found in worrying quantities in the environment.
The Canadian Government argues that voluntary measures, as championed by industry, are not enough to effectively counter increasing plastic pollution. Measures can be taken for individual plastic products. In other words, the law needs to be enforceable on a case by case basis.
The Canadian Government has resisted the strong lobby of the plastics industry that wanted to block the modification of the CEPA. After all, qualifying plastic as toxic is not up for discussion by the industry. Their objections are summarised in a statement by the American sector organisation, the American Chemistry Council.
However, the new law does not state that plastic is toxic by definition. It is about having the option of carrying out a risk analysis for each plastic product from now on. Depending on the outcomes of the analysis, prevention measures can be put in place.
The Canadian Government’s goal is that there is no more plastic in the environment by 2030. To this end, the country is considering a ban on some plastic items like straws, stirrers, cutlery, six-pack rings, thin supermarket bags, Styrofoam items and take-away food packaging. The modified CEPA now paves the way for a ban on the use and sale of these items.
Greenpeace Canada praised the Canadian Government for this step and for not giving in to the pressure exerted by the lobbying. The environmental organisation calls on the Government to not only ban SUP items, but to actively bring about a systems change. Supermarkets may no longer be filled with products that are individually packed in plastic.
20 large companies worldwide produce more than half the polymers from which all disposable plastic is made. These large companies are keeping the plastic soup going as a huge proportion of that plastic ends up in the environment.
Plastic is embedded in our everyday life from cleaning the house to the food we eat. We produce 368 million tonnes of plastic waste every year. That’s more than the weight of the entire human population. If current trends continue, by 2050, our oceans could contain more plastic than fish.
For this year’s World Ocean Day, we ask you to give back to the ocean. Join our challenge to reduce your plastic footprint and protect the next generation.
World Environment Day was designated as such by the United Nations in 1974 to not only raise awareness among the world’s population for environmental pollution.
