Can’t wait till the unintentional and unplanned consequences kick in
Ottawa announces plans to ban single-use plastics starting in 2021 at the earliest
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau says his government will ban single-use plastics — which could include bags, straws and cutlery — in Canada in 2021 at the earliest.
“We need to cover all of Canada with this decision and that’s why the federal government is moving forward on a science-based approach to establishing which harmful single-use plastics we will be eliminating as of 2021,” said Trudeau during a stop Monday at the Gault Nature Reserve in Mont St-Hilaire, just outside Montreal.
A full list of banned items isn’t set in stone, but a government source told CBC News that the list also could include items like cotton swabs, drink stirrers, plates and balloon sticks. Fast-food containers and cups made of expanded polystyrene, which is similar to white Styrofoam, will also be banned, said the source.
Trudeau said the government will research the question of which items it should ban and follow the model chosen by the European Union, which voted in March to ban plastic items for which market alternatives exist — such as single-use plastic cutlery and plates — and items made of oxo-degradable plastics, such as bags. (Oxo-degradable plastics aren’t really biodegradable; they contain additives that cause the plastic to fragment without breaking down chemically.)
The devil is in the details, so, we’ll have to wait to see how this all shakes out. I wonder, though, will Canada ban the importation of these items via international shippers, such as Amazon? How about Canadians who cross the border into the U.S. to purchase the items? Will it be against the law to bring them back? How will people get their coffee and fast food? What will it be served in? And how much will this increase costs?
He also revealed plans to make companies that manufacture or sell plastic products to take responsibility for recycling their plastic waste.
“Whether we’re talking about plastic bottles or cellphones, it will be up to businesses to take responsibility for the plastics they’re manufacturing and putting out into the world,” said Trudeau.
Or, they could just stop selling their products in Canada, leaving them with no smartphones, causing a mental breakdown in people who are hooked.
Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer said the plan lacks any details about how it would affect the economy.
“In the dying days of this government — with a scandal-plagued government, with a prime minister desperate to change the channel — we see another gesture without a plan without any kind of specifics about how this would be implemented or any kind of study on the impact on prices for consumers, on jobs, on how this would affect small businesses,” he told reporters in Ottawa
“This is clearly just a government clutching at straws.”
I’m sure the pun was intended.
I’m trying to figure out how the producer of a consumer product can morally be held responsible for it’s disposition after use. I a restaurant responsible for one’s poop after one eats their food? Is GM responsible for the crushed metal blob that a car ends up being? Is Hammermill responsible for the disposition of your printer paper after you print something? I don’t get it.
…moving forward on a science-based approach …
And the science is settled. Bwaha!
Well, its a “science-based” approach so there’s nothing to worry about. Nothing to worry about at all… cough… fake science… cough…
Government by apparatchiks. They don’t have a clue about how to run a government to benefit their citizens, so they just make stuff up to look busy.
And the more shite they make up the more it costs us in money and freedom. They bullshite their way through life on other people’s dimes and act virtuous doing it. quite a gig if you can get it.
I’m not really interested in Canadian “freedom”. They can figure this out for themselves if they want to. I just don’t like their smug attitude about all the wonderful things they can do, as if being next door to us isn’t their greatest asset. They can have an open border immigration policy because they know most of their immigrants aren’t going to stay in Canada. They can have socialized medicine because their wealthy people can come here to get services on demand. They can have an effeminate and weak military because they live in our protective shadow. Even their economy is strong because we are their largest trade partner.
“Can’t wait till the unintentional and unplanned consequences kick in.â€
The world is being destroyed by do-gooders. They mean well, but the unintentional consequences are what does them and us in.
There is a strong likely hood that Justin Trudeau will not be re-elected in November, so this ban will be a moot point.
As a Canadian, I can tell you I am not against this idea per se. I am grateful that the government is not using this to create yet again another environmental tax. I am actively hoping the national carbon tax will be gone by November. We will see.