Editor’s note: The following is one of the issues highlighted in The Packer’s Year in Produce 2023 review.
Canada’s plastics ban remained an industry issue to watch in 2023.
On June 20, 2022, Canada announced final regulations banning select single-use plastic manufactured items, including checkout bags, cutlery, certain foodservice ware, ring carriers, stir sticks and most straws. At the time, the USDA said that depending on the product, the regulations would be enforced between six months and three and a half years.
In a December 2023 opinion piece by Ron Lemaire, president of the Canadian Produce Marketing Association and Dave Puglia, president and CEO of Western Growers, the industry leaders said that rather than the near elimination of plastics, which would diminish supply and drive up prices, they have asked Environment and Climate Change Canada and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to take a collaborative approach with industry.
“This approach would focus on increasing recycled content and improving recycling systems to address the need for circularity while balancing the universal desire to reduce plastic pollution with the realities of the market,” they said.
Related coverage:
