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CALGARY — The federal and Alberta provincial government are set up for another fight over plans to label plastic as a toxic waste, which the plastics and chemistry industry says will deter investment in Alberta.
Canada’s Environment and Climate Change Minister Jonathan Wilkinson announced Wednesday the federal government would draft regulations to ban six types of single-use plastic items, including plastic straws, stir sticks, take-out bags, cutlery, dishes and takeout containers and six-pack rings. The government intends to add plastics to a list of toxic items under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, a designation that comes after a scientific assessment found plastics to be harmful. Designating them as toxic is a required step in order to ban the planned items.
“One important part of this plan is a ban on harmful single-use plastics,” Environment and Climate Change Minister Jonathan Wilkinson said at a news conference Wednesday, in which he announced that regulations banning plastic cutlery, straws, six-pack rings and hard-to-recycle plates would be finalized by the end of 2021.