There is currently no “accurate and comprehensive” way to gauge the impact of the federal ban on everyday plastic products on the environment, says a report by the Department of Environment and Climate Change.
“Given data gaps in the current understanding of plastic waste, it is challenging to draw conclusions about the relative impact of the Initiative on plastic waste in Canada as a whole,” said the
report “Horizontal Evaluation of the Federal Leadership Towards Zero Plastic Waste in Canada Initiative,” published on Jan. 12, as first reported by Blacklock’s Reporter.
The Liberals’ ban on single-use plastics
came into effect on Dec. 20 with the promise to eliminate 1.3 million tonnes of difficult-to-recycle plastic waste and a million garbage bags’ worth of pollution over the next decade.
This means Canadian companies can no longer
produce or import plastic checkout bags, cutlery, stir sticks, straws, and takeout containers as of that date. In a year, the federal government will make it illegal to sell them.
The manufacturing and import ban will extend to the plastic rings used to package six-packs of canned drinks in June and their sale will be prohibited a year after that.
Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault said the ban aligned with Canada’s goal to create a “legally-binding treaty” with countries and global stakeholders to end plastic pollution.
“With this ban, and our participation toward achieving a global treaty, we’re joining the global effort to reduce plastic pollution and protect our wildlife and habitats,” the minister said in a
news release on Dec. 17.
“There is a clear linkage between a world free of plastic pollution and a sustainable world.”
‘Impossible to Accurately Estimate’
The report by the environment department, however, noted the difficulty in measuring the effectiveness of the ban on the environment.“The total amount of waste diverted or its relative impact on the total amount of plastic waste to date is not available due to data limitations,” the researchers wrote.
“[Thus], an accurate and comprehensive accounting of the total amount of diverted plastic waste as a result of Initiative activities is not available or, in the case of such things as lost gear, is impossible to accurately estimate.”
The report also noted that between 2019 and 2022, the Liberal government spent
$64.4 million on various federal departments to develop alternatives and push for the phasing out of single-use plastics. The use of alternatives will cost consumers $205 million in 2024, according to the findings of Blacklock’s Reporter.
Research published in the March 2022 issue of the Marine Pollution Bulletin states that the six types of plastics banned in Canada are not the most commonly discarded plastic litter.
“This ban fails to target litter categories that appear to make up most of SUP [single-use plastics] litter found in Canada, such as wrappers and bottle caps,” said the
study, titled “Evaluating Canada’s single-use plastic mitigation policies via brand audit and beach cleanup data to reduce plastic pollution.”
The “Horizontal Evaluation” report said the environment department has no idea about the scope of plastic litter at Canadian lakes, rivers and coastlines—given that a 2019 study only focused on land-based plastics.
“There is no clear estimate of the total amount of plastic waste in Canadian waters,” the report said.
“This makes it difficult, for example, to understand the relative impact of programs.”
The Canadian Press contributed to this report.
