The Energy Mix

Top Menu

  • About
  • Latest Digest/Archive
  • Partners
  • Which Energy Mix is this?
  • Contact

Main Menu

  • News Archive by Category
    • Climate & Society
      • Carbon Levels & Measurement
      • Carbon-Free Transition
      • Climate Action/”Blockadia”
      • Climate Denial & Greenwashing
      • Climate Policy/Meetings/Negotiations
      • Culture, Curiosities, & Humour
      • Demographics
      • Energy Politics
      • Energy Subsidies
      • Energy/Carbon Pricing & Economics
      • Finance & Investment
      • First Peoples
      • Insurance & Liability
      • International Agencies & Studies
      • Jobs & Training
      • Legal & Regulatory
      • Media, Messaging, & Public Opinion
      • Methane
      • Travel, Leisure & Recreation
    • Climate Impacts & Adaptation
      • Biodiversity & Habitat
      • Drought, Famine & Wildfires
      • Food Security
      • Forests & Deforestation
      • Health & Safety
      • Heat & Temperature
      • Human Rights & Migration
      • Ice Loss & Sea Level Rise
      • International Security & War
      • Severe Storms & Flooding
      • Soil & Natural Sequestration
      • Water
    • Demand & Distribution
      • Air & Marine
      • Auto & Alternative Vehicles
      • Batteries/Storage
      • Buildings
      • Cities
      • Electricity Grid
      • Energy Access & Equity
      • Off-Grid
      • Petrochemicals & Plastics
      • Supply Chains & Consumption
      • Transit
      • Walking & Biking
    • Jurisdictions
      • Africa
      • Arctic & Antarctica
      • Asia
      • Australia
      • Brazil
      • Canada
      • China
      • Europe
      • India
      • International
      • Mexico, Caribbean & Latin America
      • Middle East
      • Oceans
      • Small Island States
      • South & Central America
      • Sub-National Governments
      • United States
    • Non-Renewable Energy
      • CCS & Negative Emissions
      • Coal
      • Nuclear
      • Oil & Gas
      • Pipelines/Rail Transport
      • Shale & Fracking
      • Tar Sands/Oil Sands
    • Opinion & Analysis
    • Renewable Energy
      • Bioenergy
      • Demand & Efficiency
      • General Renewables
      • Geothermal
      • Hydrogen
      • Hydropower
      • Research & Development
      • Solar
      • Wave & Tidal
      • Wind
  • Special Reports
    • Alberta’s Bitumen Pipe Dream
    • Canada’s Drive to Net Zero
    • Carbon Farming
    • City and Sub-National Action
    • Drawdown
    • Drive to 1.5
    • 26-Week Climate Transition Program for Canada
    • America’s Electoral Climate 2020
    • Canada’s Climate Change Election 2019
    • The Energy Mix Yearbook 2018
      • Climate Extremes
      • Fossils Go For Broke
      • Renewables (R)Evolution
      • Electric Vehicles
      • Canada’s Contradiction
      • COP24
      • Pipeline Politics
      • Jobs and Just Transition
      • Cities and Sub-Nationals
      • Finance and Divestment
      • Climate Litigation
  • Webinars & Podcasts
  • About
  • Latest Digest/Archive
  • Partners
  • Which Energy Mix is this?
  • Contact
  • Subscribe
  • Donate

logo

  • News Archive by Category
    • Climate & Society
      • Carbon Levels & Measurement
      • Carbon-Free Transition
      • Climate Action/”Blockadia”
      • Climate Denial & Greenwashing
      • Climate Policy/Meetings/Negotiations
      • Culture, Curiosities, & Humour
      • Demographics
      • Energy Politics
      • Energy Subsidies
      • Energy/Carbon Pricing & Economics
      • Finance & Investment
      • First Peoples
      • Insurance & Liability
      • International Agencies & Studies
      • Jobs & Training
      • Legal & Regulatory
      • Media, Messaging, & Public Opinion
      • Methane
      • Travel, Leisure & Recreation
    • Climate Impacts & Adaptation
      • Biodiversity & Habitat
      • Drought, Famine & Wildfires
      • Food Security
      • Forests & Deforestation
      • Health & Safety
      • Heat & Temperature
      • Human Rights & Migration
      • Ice Loss & Sea Level Rise
      • International Security & War
      • Severe Storms & Flooding
      • Soil & Natural Sequestration
      • Water
    • Demand & Distribution
      • Air & Marine
      • Auto & Alternative Vehicles
      • Batteries/Storage
      • Buildings
      • Cities
      • Electricity Grid
      • Energy Access & Equity
      • Off-Grid
      • Petrochemicals & Plastics
      • Supply Chains & Consumption
      • Transit
      • Walking & Biking
    • Jurisdictions
      • Africa
      • Arctic & Antarctica
      • Asia
      • Australia
      • Brazil
      • Canada
      • China
      • Europe
      • India
      • International
      • Mexico, Caribbean & Latin America
      • Middle East
      • Oceans
      • Small Island States
      • South & Central America
      • Sub-National Governments
      • United States
    • Non-Renewable Energy
      • CCS & Negative Emissions
      • Coal
      • Nuclear
      • Oil & Gas
      • Pipelines/Rail Transport
      • Shale & Fracking
      • Tar Sands/Oil Sands
    • Opinion & Analysis
    • Renewable Energy
      • Bioenergy
      • Demand & Efficiency
      • General Renewables
      • Geothermal
      • Hydrogen
      • Hydropower
      • Research & Development
      • Solar
      • Wave & Tidal
      • Wind
  • Special Reports
    • Alberta’s Bitumen Pipe Dream
    • Canada’s Drive to Net Zero
    • Carbon Farming
    • City and Sub-National Action
    • Drawdown
    • Drive to 1.5
    • 26-Week Climate Transition Program for Canada
    • America’s Electoral Climate 2020
    • Canada’s Climate Change Election 2019
    • The Energy Mix Yearbook 2018
      • Climate Extremes
      • Fossils Go For Broke
      • Renewables (R)Evolution
      • Electric Vehicles
      • Canada’s Contradiction
      • COP24
      • Pipeline Politics
      • Jobs and Just Transition
      • Cities and Sub-Nationals
      • Finance and Divestment
      • Climate Litigation
  • Webinars & Podcasts
Advanced Search
Biodiversity & HabitatCanadaCarbon-Free TransitionDrive to 1.5Energy/Carbon Pricing & EconomicsJobs & TrainingOceansPetrochemicals & Plastics
Home›Climate Impacts & Adaptation›Biodiversity & Habitat›BREAKING: Ottawa to Ban Single-Use Plastics as Soon as 2021

BREAKING: Ottawa to Ban Single-Use Plastics as Soon as 2021

June 9, 2019
June 9, 2019
 
278
4
Share:
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  Print This Story
Ben_Kerckx/Pixabay

The Trudeau government is planning to ban single-use plastics as early as 2021, as part of a wider plastic pollution strategy set to be released today in coordinated announcements by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau and Environment and Climate Change Minister Catherine McKenna, CBC revealed in an exclusive report late Sunday afternoon.

The breaking news comes at a time when fossil companies are fretting about a mounting global backlash against plastic pollution, as public opinion coalesces into a threat to a business they’ve been counting on as a reliable source of demand for their own raw product (see accompanying story).

Like this story? Subscribe to The Energy Mix and never miss an edition of our free e-digest.

SUBSCRIBE

“Plastic straws, cotton swabs, drink stirrers, plates, cutlery, and balloon sticks are just some of the single-use plastics that will be banned in Canada,” CBC reports, citing a government source. “The full list of plastics to be banned by the federal government will follow the model chosen by the European Union, which voted in March to also ban products made of oxo-degradable plastics, such as bags. Oxo-degradable plastics include additives that don’t completely biodegrade but fragment into small pieces and remain in the environment.”

CBC adds that “fast food containers and cups made of expanded polystyrene, which is similar to white styrofoam, will also be banned.”

The initiative follows discussions at the June, 2018 G7 summit in Charlevoix, Quebec, where Prime Minister Justin Trudeau led the call for an Ocean Plastics Charter. France, Germany, Italy, the UK, and EU joined Canada in signing on to the charter immediately, and CBC says they’re all now moving to curb plastic pollution.

Environment and Climate Change Canada estimates Canadians now throw away 34 million plastic bags per day, sending them to landfills where they’ll take up to 1,000 years to decay. “Many also end up in the oceans harming marine ecosystems and wildlife,” CBC notes. “Recently whales have been found dead, washed ashore with pounds of plastic in their stomachs.”

A report earlier this year by consultants from Deloitte and ChemInfo Services found that Canada only recycles 9% of its plastic waste, while sending 87% to landfills. It also concluded that plastics manufacturing was one of the country’s fastest-growing sectors between 2012 and 2017, accounting for C$35 billion in annual sales and employing 93,000 people, mostly in Ontario, Quebec, and Alberta. The recycling industry, by contrast, generates about $350 million and employs about 500.Later today, the federal department is expected to explain how the new plastics strategy will create jobs and cut greenhouse gas emissions. Last month, a blockbuster report by the U.S. Center for International Environmental Law and five other organizations placed the global plastic industry’s life cycle greenhouse gas emissions at 850 million tonnes this year—with potential to hit 1.34 gigatonnes per year by 2030, the equivalent of 295 500-megawatt coal plants.

TagsCanada Election 2019 - Ideas ExamplesDrive to 1.5Drive to 1.5 National Plans & ResponsesPick of the Mix
Share:
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  •  
  Print This Story

Find more stories about
Biodiversity & HabitatCanadaCarbon-Free TransitionDrive to 1.5Energy/Carbon Pricing & EconomicsJobs & TrainingOceansPetrochemicals & Plastics

    4 comments

    1. Janet Creery 10 June, 2019 at 09:15 Reply

      Thanks for this, but should you not be providing some background on it? Canada continues to subsidize its plastics industry. I had understood that Canada was refusing to collaborate with an international effort in Basel lately to tighten the regulation of plastics – I can’t seem to find this online right now but hear a report about it some weeks back. The Liberal party, having been ineffective on the environment for years and now about to face an election, is making a promise for several years ahead.

      • Mitchell Beer 12 June, 2019 at 01:34 Reply

        Thanks, Janet. We’d understood that Canada had signed on to the Basel amendment: https://theenergymix.com/2019/05/12/fossils-face-shareholder-pressure-as-187-countries-crack-down-on-plastic-waste/ , along with a list of 186 other countries that did not include the United States. If you run across anything indicating that they’re backsliding, we’ll be happy to look into it.

    2. Ruth Pickering 10 June, 2019 at 10:06 Reply

      No mention of single use plastic water bottles?!!!
      I guess that’s because the ‘taking of water’ from community aquifers, bottling it in individual plastic bottles and selling it world-wide has already been negotiated into the ‘free trade’ agreements, thus guaranteeing that government will not ‘ touch’ such an inclusion!

    3. Barbara Mills 10 June, 2019 at 15:14 Reply

      Thank you to the Federal Liberals for following up on two decisive and important private member motions introduced by NDP MPs over the last eight months. In November 2018, Gord Johns NDP MP for Courtenay/ Alberni Riding on Vancouver Island British Columbia, introduced a private member motion M151 to reduce single use plastic, to create more effective plastic recycling, and address marine microplastics. Gord’s motion was passed unanimously in Parliament 288-0. (see https://gordjohns.ndp.ca/keep-plastics-out-of-our-water Another long time NDP parliamentarian Nathan Cullen presented the zero waste packaging act C429 which had its first reading February 2019. Thank you to these dedicated MPs who, with extensive help from scientists and the community, showed the intiative to help Parliament move toward real action on this plastic pollution issue.

    Leave a reply Cancel reply

    Recent Posts

    • Alberta Calls for $30-Billion Carbon Capture Subsidy in Upcoming Federal Budget
      Alberta Calls for $30-Billion Carbon Capture Subsidy in Upcoming Federal Budget
      March 10, 2021
    • Panicky Messaging on Line 5 Closure Threat Masks Real Issues with Pipeline, Oil by Rail
      Panicky Messaging on Line 5 Closure Threat Masks Real Issues with Pipeline, Oil by Rail
      March 10, 2021
    • Experts Brace for Disaster as Canada, U.S. Increase Oil-by-Rail Shipments
      Experts Brace for Disaster as Canada, U.S. Increase Oil-by-Rail Shipments
      March 10, 2021
    • Quebec LNG Megaproject Will Drive Up Power Rates with $310M Revenue Hit, Analysis Finds
      Quebec LNG Megaproject Will Drive Up Power Rates with $310M Revenue Hit, Analysis Finds
      March 10, 2021
    • Sketchy Carbon Accounting Turns Net-Zero Targets into ‘Weapons-Grade Greenwash’, Scientist Warns
      Sketchy Carbon Accounting Turns Net-Zero Targets into ‘Weapons-Grade Greenwash’, Scientist Warns
      March 10, 2021

    News Feed

    Top News

    • Study Probes Northern Permafrost Loss at 1.5°, 2.0°C Average Warming
      March 9, 2021
    • China Plans Online Carbon Trading Market by Mid-Year
      March 9, 2021

    Read More

    Carbon-Free Transition

    • Electric Motorbikes Fuel Carbon-Free Future for East Africa
      March 9, 2021
    • Volatile Market, Competing Automakers Drive Down Tesla’s Share Price
      March 9, 2021

    Read More

    Canada

    • Yukon Energy Turns to First Nation as Site for Territory’s Biggest Grid Battery
      March 9, 2021
    • Northeastern B.C. First Nation Gets Oilfield Services Training
      March 9, 2021

    Read More

    U.S.

    • Second-Biggest U.S. Coal Mine Heads Toward Closure
      March 9, 2021
    • U.S. Legislator to Target Big Oil for Oversight
      March 9, 2021

    Read More

    International

    • China Plans Online Carbon Trading Market by Mid-Year
      March 9, 2021
    • Pacific Islands Unveil Faster Shift to Renewables
      March 9, 2021

    Read More

    • About the Energy Mix
    • Contact
    • Privacy Policy and Copyright
    Copyright 2020 © Smarter Shift Inc. and Energy Mix Productions Inc. All rights reserved.