ONTARIO: Jonathan Wilkinson, Environment Minister of the Government of Canada, announced that the government has imposed a ban on the use of several plastic items from 2021 onwards. The announcement, made on Wednesday, October 7, states that the ban has been imposed on items such as checkout bags and straws. According to Wilkinson, the ban is extremely important to Canada as the government believes that the country is falling behind other European countries in terms of how much they recycle.
Wilkinson added that this ban on certain plastic products from 2021 is part of a long-term plan of the Canadian government which aims to eliminate all forms of plastic waste by 2030. This has, since long, been a climate agenda that been pushed vigorously by Justin Trudeau, Prime Minister of Canada.
During the news conference, Wilkinson acknowledged that Canada was not the first country to adopt this vision or start down this path, but also added that Canada intends to learn from the progress and example of many European countries, including the United Kingdom.
Officil data states that Canadians dump as much as three million tonnes of plastic waste each year. Although Canada currently only recycles about nine per cent of this waste, Wilkinson says that the government intends to increase this number further in the coming years.