Canada’s Prime Minister Justin Trudeau is set to outline plans to ban single-use plastics by 2021.
Plastic straws, cotton swabs, drink stirrers, plates, cutlery and balloon sticks will be among items due to be banished in the country according to reports in CBC News.
The full list of plastics to be banned by the federal government will follow the model chosen by the European Union, which voted in March to also ban products made of oxo-degradable plastics, such as bags, which don’t completely biodegrade but fragment into small pieces and remain in the environment.
Fast-food containers and cups made of expanded polystyrene, which is similar to white styrofoam, will also be banned.
Canadians currently throw away more than 34 million plastic bags every day, which can take as long as 1,000 years to decay in landfill.
The prime minister and Environment Minister Catherine McKenna will announce the new plastic strategy in two separate locations on Monday.
