Canada: A Rising Leader in North America's Plastic Reduction Efforts

As the issue of plastic pollution gradually gains global attention, Canadian officials have revealed a startling statistic: Canada uses as many as 15 billion plastic shopping bags each year—and an estimated 16 million plastic straws every single day! To address this growing problem, Canada has also joined the international movement to reduce plastic consumption.

North America's Pioneers and Milestones in Plastic Reduction

Starting from April 2020, Vancouver took the lead by gradually banning plastic bags, straws, and polystyrene food containers, becoming Canada’s first city to implement large-scale plastic reduction policies. Shortly afterward, in October of the same year, the Canadian government announced it would impose a nationwide ban by the end of 2021 on six categories of single-use plastics—such as straws, stirrers, plastic bags, plastic containers, and plastic cutlery—that are notoriously difficult to recycle. However, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, this initiative was temporarily put on hold amid public health concerns. It wasn’t until June 20, 2022, that Canada’s Minister of Environment and Climate Change, Steven Guilbeault, along with Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos, officially confirmed at a press conference in Quebec City that the outright ban on single-use plastic bags, straws, and food containers for takeout—including disposable utensils—would take effect starting December of that year. Additionally, the government further tightened its stance by prohibiting the manufacture and import of these harmful single-use plastics altogether.

With this ban taking effect, Canada expects to reduce more than 1.3 million tons of hard-to-recycle plastic waste over the next decade—equivalent to filling 1 million garbage bags with plastic, significantly cutting down on environmental harm!

Businesses and the public stepping forward without hesitation

On the other hand, even before the Canadian government launched a series of initiatives to reduce plastic use, many businesses had already quietly taken steps on their own sustainability journeys. For instance, Canada’s popular fast-food chain A&W completely phased out plastic straws as early as June 2018—and by the end of that same year, they had switched to biodegradable or recyclable packaging containers, replacing plastic cups altogether.