COLUMN: Think Again – Banning single-use plastics is stupid

When it comes to the environment, there’s a lot of meaningless virtue signaling. Perhaps the most obvious example is the federal government’s ban on single-use plastics.

Thanks to Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, Canadians are drinking milkshakes through disintegrating paper straws, carrying groceries home in overpriced cloth bags, and eating ice cream with thin wooden spoons. These actions are supposed to help save the planet.

However, plastic bans hurt the environment rather than help it. For example, a 2018 analysis by the Danish Environmental Protection Agency showed that when you take the entire life cycle of bags into account, shoppers would need to reuse a cotton bag more than 7,100 times before it becomes more environmentally friendly than a single-use plastic bag.

That number jumps to an eye-popping 20,000 times for organic cotton bags. I doubt that anyone has used the same cotton bag more than 20,000 times.

Add to this the fact that most of us already have far too many of these cloth bags sitting around our houses. That’s because we don’t always remember to bring bags with us when we go shopping. Since we still need something to carry our groceries in, we end up purchasing more of these overpriced cloth bags, which end up taking up space at home until we finally throw them out.

As for paper straws, not only are they decidedly inferior to plastic straws, but they also contain harmful chemicals known as PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances). These chemicals are not fully biodegradable and will likely persist in the environment for thousands of years. So much for reducing our environmental footprint.

To make matters worse, studies show that the presence of PFAS in our blood is linked to a variety of negative health effects such as liver and kidney disease, high blood pressure in pregnant women, decreased immune response, and several types of cancer. In other words, paper straws suck in more ways than one.

Fortunately, there are some hopeful signs. In November 2023, a federal court judge ruled that the government’s decision to classify plastic-manufactured items as toxic was unreasonable because it was too broad and encroached on provincial jurisdiction. Unsurprisingly, the federal government is appealing this ruling, which means these single-use plastics restrictions remain in effect for the time being.

However, earlier this year Conservative MP Corey Tochor introduced Bill C-380, a private members’ bill that would repeal the federal government’s classification of plastics as toxic. While private members’ bills rarely become law, the fact that this issue is being openly debated in the House of Commons shows that at least some politicians are pushing back against this insanity.

Plastic bags and straws have also emerged as a campaign issue in the British Columbia provincial election. Conservative leader John Rustad recently pledged to repeal restrictions on plastic straws and cutlery that the BC NDP government put in place.

In his news release, Rustad stated, “The ban on plastic straws has been nothing but a nuisance for families and businesses across BC. It hasn’t achieved any significant environmental goals, but it has certainly made life worse for people.” He’s absolutely right.

Interestingly, polls show that Rustad has a good chance of winning the BC election. If that happens, we will have another provincial premier standing up for common sense on this issue. Hopefully, more politicians will take a sensible approach to environmental issues.

Forcing Canadians to buy expensive cloth bags and use disintegrating paper straws might make some progressive politicians feel good about themselves, but they aren’t helping the environment.

I’m fed up with bans on single-use plastics. These policies belong in the trash.

Michael Zwaagstra is a high school teacher and deputy mayor of Steinbach. He can be reached at mzwaagstra@shaw.ca.