e-1738 (Environmental pollution)

Petition to the Minister of Environment and Climate Change

• Many countries around the world have taken action to reduce or halt the manufacturing and distribution of single use plastic items;
• A few progressive cities across Canada including Montreal and Victoria have banned plastic bags;
• The Canadian government has not yet instituted any anti-plastic measures, thereby falling behind in its global commitment to ocean health;
• The majority of plastics are manufactured using significant amounts of fossil fuels, a major source of greenhouse gases;
• The build-up of plastics, from the 8 million tons of plastic waste that enter our oceans annually has detrimental consequences for marine life;
• It is estimated that ocean plastic pollution is responsible for the death of over 1 million sea birds and over 100,000 mammals annually as well as the poisoning of countless other marine animals;
• In addition, rather than fully biodegrading, plastic breaks down into microplastics, poisoning humans through the food we eat and water we drink;
• Single use plastics all have more environmentally friendly options cheaply and readily available; and
• Due to the recent Chinese restrictions on Canadian waste, and our inability to process the large backlog of recycling, it is currently more important than ever to curb our use of unnecessary plastics.