Canada's ban on single-use plastics will stay in place after a federal appeals court ruled in Ottawa's favor, reported CTV News.
The ruling overturns a 2023 lower court decision and lets Ottawa keep labeling plastic products as harmful. Six items remain prohibited: straws, cutlery, shopping bags, stir sticks, six-pack rings, and some food containers.
Volunteer cleanup crews have noticed the difference.
Groups that collect trash from rivers and shorelines across Ontario report sharp declines in specific kinds of litter since the ban took effect. Shopping bags, straws, and utensils now appear far less often during organized cleanups.
These changes benefit people's health. Tiny plastic fragments have been found inside human tissue, and researchers are working to understand how this affects our bodies.
To this point, studies suggest they are associated with a number of severe complications.
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Environmental advocates are now pushing for the ban to expand. Coffee cups, lids, and water bottles top the list of items they want addressed next. Some volunteers say Ontario should adopt a refund program for cans and bottles to encourage people to bring back empties instead of tossing them.
Not everyone supports the new restrictions. Ellis Ross, the Conservative Party's environment critic, called the ban "unscientific" and argued that it raises costs for everyone. Supporters say reusable cup systems and refund programs offer practical alternatives that cut down on litter.
"Increasingly microscopic plastic particles are being absorbed by human bodies and recent science shows that all of us have detectable levels of plastic inside of us," said Rick Smith, who works with the Canadian Climate Institute. "That is starting to have some effects on our health."
Lawrence Warriner, president of the cleanup group Don't Mess with the Don, has witnessed the change firsthand. "When the decision was made to ban plastic bags, the bag count that we would find in the cleanup dropped by 99 per cent," he said, per CTV News.
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