TRAVELERS to Canada should not expect to see some everyday plastic items starting next year. The country plans to ban single-use plastics — checkout bags, straws, stir sticks, six-pack rings, cutlery and even foodware made from hard-to-recycle plastics — nationwide by the end of 2021. The move is part of a larger effort by the nation to achieve zero plastic waste by 2030. “Plastic pollution threatens our natural environment. It fills our rivers or lakes, and most particularly our oceans, choking the wildlife that live there,” Canadian Environment Minister Jonathan Wilkinson said Wednesday in a news conference. The plan also includes improvements to keep “plastic in our economy and out of our environment,” he said. Single-use plastics make up most of the plastic litter found in Canada’s freshwater environments, according to the government. In addition, single-use plastics have three key characteristics that make them a target of the ban, according to Wilkinson. “They are harmful in the environment, they are difficult or costly to recycle and there are readily available alternatives,” he said. According to the government, Canadians throw away more than 3 million tons of plastic waste every year — and only 9 percent of that plastic is recycled. “The rest goes to landfills or into our environment,” said Wilkinson. Wilkinson clarified that the single-use plastic ban would not affect “access to PPE or any other plastics used in the medical environment.” (SD-Agencies) | 