Preserving Progress: Defending Canada’s Single-Use Plastic Ban
Surely, a petroleum material that persists in the environment, contains unregulated chemicals, absorbs chemicals from aquatic environments, off-gases pollutants, injures and kills hundreds of aquatic species, contributes to the climate crisis, and disproportionately impacts marginalized communities on the frontlines and fence lines of plastic manufacturing plants, is found throughout the human body and has countless scientific evidence to prove these points - should absolutely be considered toxic. While there are many resins, shapes, forms and applications of plastic materials - the life cycle of plastic materials undoubtedly contributes to an increasingly dystopic planet.
In this world we live in, where petroleum and plastic lobbyists will do whatever it takes to have the last say in an endless quest for unfettered economic growth rooted in extractivism, anything is possible - even plastics not being toxic.
Unfortunately, this is currently the case in Canada, where the Federal Court overturned the federal government’s categorization of plastic as toxic on Thursday, November 16th. The decision states that the category of plastic cannot be broadly painted as toxic. The decision reads “[T]here is no reasonable apprehension that all listed Plastic Manufactured Items are harmful.” In her court ruling Thursday, Justice Angela Furlanetto points out that there are thousands of plastic items under the category of manufactured items that have different uses and chemical compositions, and there is no evidence of all of these items causing harm to human health and/or the environment.
Of course - the Federal Court did not pursue this ruling without prompting. The case against the federal government was brought forward by a group of major players in the plastics industry under the ironic guise of the “Responsible Plastic Use Coalition”, including the infamous likes of Dow Chemical, Imperial Oil, and Nova Chemicals. They’re reasoning is that the cabinet does not have enough scientific evidence to justify all plastics being added to Schedule 1 List of Toxic Substances of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA).
What are the ramifications of this ruling? Regulating waste mostly falls under provincial authority. The federal government only has the power to regulate substances and materials for environmental protection if they are listed as toxic on Schedule 1 under CEPA. Following the internal science assessment on plastic pollution, the federal government added plastics to Schedule 1 in 2021. Starting on December 20, 2022, the prohibition on the import and manufacture of single-use plastic checkout bags, cutlery, foodservice ware made from problematic plastics, stir sticks, and straws into effect, and the prohibition on the sale of these items will come into force in December 2023. Now that the Federal Court has ruled that the broad category of plastic cannot be categorized as toxic, this ruling can dissolve the single-use plastics ban.
On Monday, November 20th, the federal government stated they will be appealing this ruling, and we await the timeline and approach for this action. As Steven Guilbeault, Minister of Environment and Climate Change Canada and Arif Virani, Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada share in their statement,
“[O]ur government intends to appeal the Federal Court’s decision and we are exploring all options to continue leading the fight against plastic pollution. We will continue working with provinces, territories, civil society, and industry to tackle this growing problem.”
The plastics industry has the resources necessary to uphold the status quo, including poking holes in any petty technicality to ensure that we stay locked in a world of infinite plastic production, plastics for every single-use application, and ramping up plastic production to make up for the loss of fossil fuel use from societal electrification.
While the federal government pursues this appeal, we - the citizens and residents of Canada - need to continue to speak up and make it known wide and far that plastics need to be regulated by the federal government, and demand more progressive action on plastics. The six single-use plastics that are currently banned only comprise 3% of plastic waste in Canada. So, we need to defend the current federal ban and continue addressing dominant forms of plastic pollution, and not let the plastics industry thwart our collective efforts. This is ultimately because they are well aware that the world knows the truth: a sustainable and climate stable planet is not possible without addressing the plastics crisis.
Together, we can and must preserve progress and defend Canada’s single-use plastic ban.
Call to Action:
Environmental Defence Petition - CANADA: DON'T LET BIG PLASTIC STOP ACTION ON PLASTIC POLLUTION. Estimated time: 5 minutes.
Write to your MP and share your concerns, feel free to share language from this blog! Estimated time: 5 minutes.
Send a letter to your MP and the Minister of Environment and Climate Change to demand a ban on polystyrene in aquatic infrastructure. Estimated time: 1 minute.
Demand a strong Global Plastics Treaty, the final round of treaty negotiations will be taking place in April, 2024, in Quebec. Estimated time: 1 minute.
