Canadian Government plans order adding ‘plastic manufactured items’ to Schedule One of Cepa

Canada is one of the countries that take action on plastic waste and pollution. On October 10th 2020 the Canadian government plans to propose an order to add "plastic manufactured items" to Schedule One of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (Cepa). Schedule One is the country’s list of toxic substances.

Through listing substance in Schedule One it will give the government a tool to address plastic pollution at different stages of the lifecycle of plastic manufactured items, such as manufacture, import, sale, use and disposal of articles.

The aim is to set up regulatory actions to address plastic pollution and is part of the government’s broader plan to manage plastic products, recover and recycle plastics and reach zero plastic waste by 2030.

The government also laid out plans to ban six specific types of single use plastics:

1. checkout bags;
2. straws;
3. stir sticks;
4. six-pack rings;
5. cutlery; and
6. foodware made from hard-to-recycle plastics.

The government also released its final scientific assessment of plastic pollution, which concluded "action is needed to reduce macro-plastics and microplastics that end up in the environment". The assessment focused on plastic waste entering the environment and did not review the efficacy of waste management processes like mechanical or chemical recycling.

Environment and Climate Change Canada said it will accept comments until 9 December on its plan to ban the six categories of single-use products. Regulations would then be finalised by the end of 2021.