In December, the federal government published draft regulations outlining how Canada will ban the manufacture, sale and import of six types of single-use plastic items by the end of next year.
The products affected are plastic grocery bags, Styrofoam takeout containers, plastic cutlery, stir sticks, straws and six-pack rings. Exceptions are proposed for single-use plastic flexible straws to accommodate people with disabilities and those needing them for medical purposes.
It’s the latest move by the feds to abide by the conditions of the 2019 Basel Convention to address plastic waste. In May, the government designated plastic manufactured items as a toxic substance under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA), the country’s main environmental law.
The listing enables the government to make regulations that will help mitigate environmental and health concerns at every stage of the plastics life cycle, including banning harmful single-use plastics, establishing recycled-content requirements, and expanding extended producer responsibility.
There is a precedent for the “toxic” designation. In 2016, the federal government officially listed microbeads as a toxic substance under CEPA before banning their use in cosmetics, personal-care products and cleansers.
Not surprisingly, the plastics industry is fighting the recent designation. Under the Canada-U.S.-Mexico Agreement (the new NAFTA) and other trade agreements, companies can take governments to court if legislation or government decisions materially harm the company’s interests.
NOVA Chemicals, Dow and Imperial Oil, the three companies that produce most of the plastic made in Canada, are leading a coalition that filed a lawsuit against the Canadian government to challenge the designation. They argue that the designation is too broad and that evidence of harm is lacking.
Major U.S. plastic industry groups have joined the suit. The Federal Court has accepted applications from the American Chemistry Council, the American Fuel and Petrochemical Manufacturers and the Plastic Industry Association to be intervenors in the legal challenge.
However, the same international laws also permit signatory countries to regulate, restrict and prevent corporate activities if evidence shows that they harm the environment or human health.
Ample evidence shows plastics are harming the environment. Most of us have seen images of migratory seabirds — themselves protected in North America by international law — and otters strangled by six-pack rings, of whales and seals with guts plugged up by plastic and Styrofoam garbage, and turtles pooping out plastic bags.
There’s also ample evidence that larger plastic items in the environment break down into ever-smaller pieces. These micro- and nanoplastics have been shown to now be found everywhere on Earth — in remote Antarctic ice, in the deepest ocean trenches, in the soil, in the air, in the water. And every month, more evidence accumulates showing the effects of those particles.
One 2021 study found that, in seawater, sunlight breaks plastics down chemically as well as physically, and that this process produced tens of thousands of water-soluble compounds. Plastics are formed from petrochemicals, which are known to be toxic, and many of these sunlight-triggered compounds are likely also poisonous.
Microplastics have shown up in the tissues of seafood — in the meat of fish and shellfish that we eat, for example — and in table salt, sugar, alcohol and tap water.
That means that we’re eating and drinking plastic every day. A 2019 University of Victoria study showed that most North Americans consume from 74,000 to 210,000 microplastic particles each year.
Researchers have detected plastic particles in our poo, with infants having higher amounts in their stool than adults do. Scientists have also found evidence of plastic contamination in tissues from the lungs, liver, spleen and kidneys of donated human cadavers.
Scientists are still working out what that means for human health, but it’s likely not good. Plastics eaten by seabirds have been shown to release chemicals in their stomachs. Several of the chemicals are known to disrupt hormones and reproduction.
In cells and laboratory animals, microplastic exposure has been shown to cause cell death, inflammation and metabolic disorders. Microplastics have been linked to neurotoxic effects in wild fish and increase oxidative damage that could lead to increased cancer risks.
The study that detected microplastics in human organs also found traces of bisphenol A, a chemical used to make some plastics, in every tissue sample from every individual tested. Bisphenol A has been shown to disrupt reproductive hormones and to contribute to cancer in mice and in humans.
Evidence of harm is mounting.
However, it’s strange, illogical and backward that the onus rests on the government to prove harm, not on the companies that profit most to prove no harm occurs.
