FELDSTED: Plastic thingies are not the problem – it is the material they are made from. If a plastic fork or spoon is made of recyclable or biodegradable material, single use is not an issue

Government to ban single-use plastic straws, cotton swabs, drink stirrers, plates, cutlery, some plastic bags all on the list

Hannah Thibedeau ~~ CBC News ~~ Jun 09, 2019

The Trudeau government will ban single-use plastics as early as 2021, CBC News has learned from a government source ... this is part of a larger strategy to tackle the plastic pollution problem that the government is expected to announce Monday.

... according to the source, the full list of plastics to be banned by the federal government will follow the model chosen by the European Union ... fast-food containers and cups made of expanded polystyrene, which is similar to white styrofoam, will also be banned.

... all of those countries have moved to curb plastic pollution, some of them with laws to reduce the consumption of plastics.

CLICK HERE to read the full story

The originality of thinking by Trudeau and McKenna is staggering. Parroting the EU which is vastly different from Canada in almost every aspect – geography, size, population density, traffic infrastructure and climate for starters, is silly.

The regulation of local sales and services is a provincial**, not a federal jurisdiction. There is nothing to give the federal jurisdiction over local issues. The Trudeau Liberals are trolling for votes and ignoring the constitution – again.

Managing local services, including waste removal and disposal is a provincial subject and responsibility. Trudeau is trying to cherry pick an emotional issue out of a larger subject. Is he really ready to take on waste removal and disposal as a federal responsibility?          

Plastic thingies are not the problem – it is the material they are made from. If a plastic fork or spoon is made of recyclable or biodegradable material, single use is not an issue.

Incinerator technology has made great strides in reducing landfill problems, but we are not even in the picture.  Governments tend to deal with symptoms while ignoring the underlying illness. Environmentalists bemoan public refusal to sort recyclables from their trash. So much trash is not recyclable that the household is left with a large mound of trash that hardly makes sorting worthwhile.

The Trudeau solution, which is to make life difficult for consumers, is inane. His government should look at banning the manufacture and import of plastics that are not either biodegradable or recyclable.

Manufacturers will find ways to create products that are less harmful to the environment, however they have no incentive to do so at present. Give them a tax allowance for research and development of environmentally friendly plastic materials.  After that, specialty plastics used in manufacturing, machinery parts, equipment and vehicles can be dealt with separately.

Recycle programs are bogged down in having to sort out useful plastic from heaps of plastic that is not.

The key is to reduce the plastics that can’t be recycled.

Recycle programs don’t want various materials including magazines and or flyers on glossy paper or saturated with inks and dozens of types of plastic. That trash should be collected for incineration in modern, energy producing facilities.  Incineration reduces trash to about 10% of the mass incinerated.

Banning plastic thingies does not address the problem of developing an integrated recycling system.

We need people working on robotic sorting of household trash.

We need to develop a recycling system on a scale that warrants separate recycle pickups and allows a profit for recyclers.

We need to take a deep breath and develop a plan of attack that will ensure over 60% of household waste can be recycled.

If we can accomplish that, people will support and use a recycling program. Brow-beating people into supporting half-vast recycling efforts that are seeing landfills grow faster each year and exporting our waste to foreign nations is ridiculous.

We don’t need federal interference unless the federal government is going to stop production and imports of plastics that cannot be recycled or are biodegradable. This, is an opportunity for McKenna to finally do something useful.

John Feldsted

Political Consultant & Strategist

Winnipeg, Manitoba

** George Heyman, Minister of Environment and Climate Change Strategy, has issued the following statement with respect to the Government of Canada’s announcement to ban single-use plastics as early as 2021:

British Columbia welcomes news that the federal government is moving toward a strategy to reduce, better recycle and ban certain plastics. Reducing plastic waste must be a joint effort by all Canadians and all levels of government. I look forward to working with my federal, provincial and territorial counterparts to reduce plastic waste and to profile some of the good work already underway in our province ....