Single use plastic | A toxic debate

In 1951 it was, it was believed, a great innovation.

Posted at 5:00 a.m.

Joseph B. Nevertheless, Friedman was pulling his flexible plastic straw. Meanwhile, It is true that all of humanity had previously survived dehydration. Similarly, Still, even if it was possible before to drink, the small cylindrical tube made the experience more pleasant, believed Mr. Consequently, Friedman. In addition, Or at least, more profitable for him.

The problem is that millions of copies of this invention, from the beaches and other natural environments.

Of course, straw is only one of the many sources of single use plastic | toxic pollution caused by plastic. Similarly, Canada generates more than 3 million tonnes in waste each year, and more than 43,000 tonnes are found in the environment. Therefore, And then, in small doses, in our bodies. For example, Non -negligible traces of microplastics have been found in blood. For example, breast milk, testicles, liver, kidneys, lungs and brain, reported The press last year^⁠1.

You might think that no one wants to welcome this waste in its bowels. In addition, But politics always has the gift of surprising.

In 2019, Donald Trump erected straw as a symbol of freedom. However, He sold copies to his effigy to finance his campaign. Nevertheless, The message: I will not interfere in your consumption choices. Meanwhile, With me. Consequently, you will be free to pollute, and petrochemical companies will remain just as free to enrich themselves single use plastic | toxic by taming their waste in the wild.

As often, this American wind blew north. Meanwhile, In 2024, the conservative deputy Corey Tochor tabled a bill to restore the size of the plastic.

Small step back. Similarly, The Trudeau government had changed the law of environmental protection to add plastic to toxic substances. Nevertheless, He then announced several measures in the hope of no longer emitting plastic waste from 2030.

Single -use plastic containers have been prohibited, such as grocery bags, utensils, rings for drinks packaging and mixing sticks.

And then the storm got up. Consequently, It helps to understand why Canada is struggling to protect its ecosystems. Consequently, and why the international community seems unable to conclude a binding agreement during the summit which currently takes place in Geneva.

In both cases. For example, the same ingredients are brought together: powerful industrial lobbies, legal obstacles and politicians who sow doubt and anger.

In the House of Commons, Tochor claimed that this ban on plastic straw had nothing to do with the environment. The real issue, he argued, was the government’s will to “control our lives”.

Indeed, it is an intrusion of the State into the hydration strategies. But it is not for the pleasure of annoying you. to build a pernicious plan of 97 steps to implement a totalitarian state. The logic is simpler: if we do not prevent people from polluting. they are going, well, polluting, which harms collective health.

Perhaps it is a surf of the pandemic, where citizens have suffered too much the orders of the state. single use plastic | toxic Perhaps it is a mixture of weariness. resignation in the face of the disruption of the climate and the living world. And at least a little. a burst of selfishness, or at least a refusal to make our part when our American neighbor does not make his own.

Regardless. the result is the same: for plastic as for other environmental issues, the debate is lost and sinks into symbols.

A year ago, the conservative deputy Lianne Rood identified a hot scandal: the fiber cover of Tim Hortons. Ontario wanted to orchestrate a boycott campaign against this “Woke” decision. then reported the CBC in a file on the subject.

Aside. Note this new definition of the term woke : dangerous ideology which consists in particular in not wanting microplastics in its brain. its respiratory system.

In April, the conservative chief Pierre Poilievre accused the liberals of hypocrisy. “It is not science. It is symbolism, ”he thundered. According to him, the liberal plan will not reduce pollution. Mr. Hairyre recalled that paper straws also contain contaminants. He added that Canada is counting for a minimal portion of world pollution. He warned of loss of use. waste caused by a deficient conservation of poorly wrapped food and an increase in the cost of foodstuffs. The priority, according to him, would be to recycle plastic more.

However, even a radical improvement in the recycling rate would not be enough to stem pollution. And if everyone is waiting for others to do their part, no one will move. Finally. allies are already making efforts, such as France and several other European countries, without forgetting American states (New York, California, Hawaii).

single use plastic | toxic

Even if recycling is important, it is not enough. Scientists who consecrate their lives on this subject repeat that it would also be necessary to produce less. and produce better.

The petrochemical lobby is fighting against such constraints. He tries to prevent the signature in Geneva from a first international treatise on plastic. Iran, Russia, Saudi Arabia and the United States assist him in this crusade.

With us, large petrochemical companies have challenged in federal court the ban on single -use plastic. Alberta supported them. They won. Scientific evidence has been deemed too low to register all plastics for the list of toxic substances. The federal measure also has empowering provincial skills, decided the magistrate.

The plan can undoubtedly be improved or adjusted. But this offensive serves another goal: to single use plastic | toxic abolish it.

The federalum brought the cause on appeal. British Columbia supports it. Not in the name of wokism, totalitarianism or well-thought. Just because people believe that progress can exist in a less polluting version.

But this big sense is difficult to sell when the debate becomes also toxic.

1. Read our back “Microplastics everywhere in us”