CANADA WILL BAN single-use plastics as early as 2021, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has announced. 

Trudeau declared it a “global challenge” to phase out the bottles, straws and plastic bags clogging the world’s oceans.

“I am very pleased to announce that as early as 2021 Canada will ban harmful, single-use plastics from coast to coast,” Trudeau said, arguing Canada has a unique chance to lead to fight against plastic pollution as the country with the world’s longest coastline.

Trudeau said that in Canada less than 10% of plastics are currently recycled.

“You’ve all heard the stories and seen the photos. And to be honest as a dad it is tough trying to explain to my kids,” Trudeau said.

How do you explain dead whales washing up on beaches across the world, their stomachs jam-packed with plastic bags? How do I tell them that against all odds, you will find plastic at the very deepest point of the Pacific Ocean.

Straws, plastic bags, cutlery, plates and stir sticks would be among the items banned, a government statement said.

European plans

Last month, the European Council adopted a directive which introduces new restrictions on certain single-use plastic products, which includes a ban on single-use plastic straws, plates and cutlery by 2021.

They will set strict rules for reducing the type of products and packaging which are among the top ten most frequently found items polluting European beaches.

Where alternatives are easily available and affordable, single-use plastic products will be banned from the market, such as cutlery, plates and straws.

For other products, efforts will be made to limit their use through design and labelling, and clean-up obligations for those who manufacture them.

Member states have agreed to achieve a 90% collection target for plastic bottles by 2029, and plastic bottles will have to contain at least 25% of recycled content by 2025 and 30% by 2030.

The Commission said last year that 500,000 tonnes of plastic waste from the EU end up in the sea every year.

Includes reporting by © – AFP 2019