Canadian Politics Today

The biggest challenge I see will be with take out salad, and a cheap effective substitute for the plastic fork.

Not a problem. Learn to use chopsticks. Of course this assumes that chopping down acres of forest to produce biodegradable utensils is somehow better for the environment than putting plastics back in the ground where they come from.

In the end this is just another pointless progressive exercise in virtue signalling.

Not a problem. Learn to use chopsticks. Of course this assumes that chopping down acres of forest to produce biodegradable utensils is somehow better for the environment than putting plastics back in the ground where they come from.

In the end this is just another pointless progressive exercise in virtue signalling.

Except as we all (should) know, tons of that plastic doesn't go in the ground, but it goes into the ocean and ends up helping to deplete fish stocks. Time to get creative once again.

Bamboo grows very quickly and produces excellent chopsticks, it is not a forest product it is an agricultural product or more specifically a grass.

And why would the impact of large scale industrial farming of bamboo be any different than the impact of large scale industrial of crops like corn? What CO2 emissions are required to farm bamboo and shape into products compared to plastic production? Don't assume that just because plastic is an oil product it is automatically worse. The production of styroform cups does a lot less harm to the environment than the production of paper cups.

Except all almost all of the plastic in the ocean comes from 3rd world countries. It does not come from Canada. So anything we do here will make no difference to that problem.

Actually, countries from the far corners, including India, as well as corporations who do business in the far corners, are taking steps to deal with the problem. So your approach of hiding under your bed and pointing fingers fails yet again.

Canada, which has 151,019 miles of coastline–the world’s longest–and a quarter of the world’s fresh water, joins a growing list of nations taking steps to reduce the use of disposable plastics. More than 60 nations have taken steps to reduce single-use plastics by imposing bans or taxes, according to a United Nations report published last year. In March the European Union’s parliament voted to ban the top 10 single-use plastic items found on European beaches by 2021. The EU measure also calls for 90 percent of plastic bottles to be recycled by 2025. Member states must work out the details of bans before the 2021 deadline.

India’s prime minister, Narendra Modi, who was overwhelmingly reelected last month to a second five-year term, declared in 2018 that India would eliminate all single-use plastic by 2022, an ambitious plan for the world’s second most populated country.

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/environment/2018/07/ocean-plastic-pollution-solutions/

My argument is the measures don't actually accomplish anything. They just trade one problem for another. Plastics happen to be the flavour of the month for the progressive virtue signalers. Governments will shuffle things around and make symbolic gestures until the virtue signalers get bored and see another shiny object that attracts their attention.

Part of the problem is that single use plastics are absolutely essential in many situations for health and safety reasons. So we can never get rid of them nor should we.

Sorry but it's not a "flavor of the month". That simply seems to be your approach to anything which seeks to improve our environment. Perhaps you don't like to eat fish but those of us who do would like to continue to be able to do so. I assume your comment about health and safety may refer to such things as safety goggles for factory workers etc., and that's fine to keep those. That plastic spoon you use to eat your Tim Horton's take out ice cream, yeah we need to get rid of those.

Bamboo grows very quickly and produces excellent chopsticks, it is not a forest product it is an agricultural product or more specifically a grass.

Few people outside asians want use chopsticks because they're terrible.  They can't replace spoons or knives either.  They need a product to replace the plastic utensils that are at least recyclable.  Bamboo is an interesting option.  As you say. there's smart people out there to figure it out.

I don't know what they'll do to replace all those microwaveable meal containers etc that are plastic.  Banning single use plastic is a massive, massive change and that will potentially have a sizeable impact on the economy.  I'm all for it as long as there's a better replacement solution to be found.

The plastic packaging doesn't damage the good it's designed to contain (obviously) but it damages the environment after it is discarded.

What sucks is that we can do our part but all these poor countries have horrible sanitation and just throw a lot of their waste including plastic into the ocean/seas/rivers etc. and there isn't a lot we can do about it.  We need international incentives & punishments for that kind of thing.