By Tyler Marr

Single-use plastics under the microscope at home and abroad

Jun 9, 2018 | 9:05 AM

More than 150 million tonnes of plastic waste is polluting oceans worldwide, and it’s estimated that plastic could outweigh fish by 2050, according to the federal government. 

Approximately eight million tonnes of plastics enter our oceans each year, according to the Ministry of Environment and Climate Change, the equivalent of dumping the contents of one garbage truck full of plastic into the ocean every minute. The chief contributor to this is single-use plastics, the category which includes plastic bags, straws, coffee stir sticks, soda and water bottles, and most food packaging. It’s estimated that less than 11 per cent of plastics are recycled in Canada, marginally above the global rate of about 9 per cent.

Haste has been urged on stemming the seemingly endless flow of plastic waste into landfills and oceans and has become a growing focus, with all levels of government and even corporate entities lining up to help curb the problem.

The topic surfaced last week at the Federation of Canadian Municipalities conference in Halifax, where federal NDP leader Jagmeet Singh wove a message about reducing marine litter into his talk on reducing emissions and promoting green alternatives. He said Canada could start small by banning plastic straws and introduce alternatives before widening the ban.

“We need to make a step. There’s so many countries that have already taken that step ahead of us, there’s certain cities that have taken that step ahead of us,” he said. “As a nation, we need to commit.”

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The United Kingdom is set to ban all sales of single-use plastics, including cotton swabs, in the country as early as next year.

The topic is slated for discussion among world leaders at the G7 Summit in Charlevoix, Que., where British Prime Minister Theresa May will be in attendance. Attempts have even been made to make the summit low in plastic waste, and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau wants leaders to sign on to a zero-waste plastics charter.

IKEA announced plans to phase out single-use plastics from its home furnishing range and restaurants globally by 2020. These changes will take effect across its 29 retail markets, including all of its Canadian locations. Joining them, North Vancouver-headquartered A&W Canada announced it would be the first restaurant chain in North America to eliminate plastic straws by the end of 2018.

“Reducing waste from landfills is a top priority for A&W and this is one big way that we can make a difference,” Susan Senecal, A&W Canada’s president and CEO said.

The company said it will provide guests with the option of a 100 per cent biodegradable straw that can last 2 to 3 hours in a drink without breaking down but biodegrades completely in just a few months. The country’s second-largest burger chain, with 925 locations coast-to-coast, said the switch to paper will keep 82 million plastic straws out of landfills every year.

Municipalities have started to toy with the idea, as they are on the front lines of the majority of plastic waste. Vancouver’s city council moved to ban plastic straws, foams cups and foam takeout containers by June 1, 2019, making the B.C. city the first community in Canada to do so. According to the Conference Board of Canada, Canada generates more municipal waste per capita annually than any of its peer countries. The latest numbers show we generate twice as much waste per capita than Japan, the top-performing country.

Prince Albert Mayor Greg Dionne, who was in attendance at Federation of Canadian Municipalities meeting along with a number of councillors and staffers, said the issue of single-use plastics is one the city will examine closely. He said at the conference he was shocked by a video of a whale that died after ingesting 200 plastic bags at sea. Municipal leaders at the event voted in favour of calling on the feds to craft a national plastics strategy. Environment Minister Catherine McKenna launched a consultation period on developing a pan-Canadian approach to managing plastics in April.

“We have so many plastic things now that it is getting into the system,” Dionne told paNOW. “Do you need a straw for a drink? No. Do you need a lid when you are sitting in a restaurant? No. It is things like that, that I think are easy fixes and it will be one thing we are looking at.”

Nancy Carswell, with the Prince Albert chapter of the Council of Canadians, said it is encouraging to see movement on the file. A driving factor behind her push to address single-use plastics boils down to the fact they are a petroleum-based product. 

“We know because of climate change we need to keep oil in the soil,” she told paNOW. “We don’t need to get rid of plastic, just petroleum-based plastic. There are huge opportunities to develop and there are biodegradable plastics made out of things like hemp,” adding she wouldn’t object to a modest use of single-use plastics when there are no alternatives available but stressed the need for innovation.

She said cheap oil-based products have gotten us this far, but it is time to pause, step back, and examine how corporations have externalized the cost on the environment. While Carswell mainlined a need for regulation on the subject from government, was content to see corporations take action, even if it is to solely gain social capital and attract a certain segment of the market.

“[That] is a good thing,” she said. “There is pressure on them to change from their consumers.”

While applauding the move from companies like A&W, said the products offered as an alternative are still single-use and urged people to help in their own way, like carrying reusable utensils.

— With files from the Canadian Press

tyler.marr@jpbg.ca

On Twitter: @JournoMarr