Single-use plastics ban will hurt manufacturing jobs, CME says

OTTAWA — Canadian Manufacturers & Exporters say an outright ban of single use plastics will not help achieve environmental health goals following the federal government’s announcement of its plans to ban the import and manufacture of single-use plastics like checkout bags, cutlery and foodservice ware by December 2022.

According to the CME, the industry has repeatedly said that the better approach is to develop a circular economy that treats plastics as a resource to be managed and recycled back into the Canadian economy rather than ending up in a landfill.

“Canada acting alone to ban single-use plastics without coordinating with other countries will do little to move the needle on reducing plastic pollution. It will punish Canadian manufacturers and all their suppliers,” said Dennis Darby, president and CEO of CME.

“Production of these products will just move to the US or to other countries and we will still have not solved the problem,” he added.

Moreover, CME says it is disappointed to see the government will also prohibit the export of plastics in these categories by 2025, a decision it says will affect more Canadian jobs tied to this sector. Additionally, CME says many businesses will lose access  to export markets as a result of this decision and that will drive down Canadian exports.