by Andrew Murray
Federal Court judge, Justice Angela Furlanetto’s recent decision to overturn the single-use plastics ban is a terrifying reminder of the power of the fossil fuel industry and an empowering reminder of the need to take climate change into our own hands.
Justice Furlanetto claimed that federal government’s decision to list plastics as toxic was “unreasonable and unconstitutional”. It’s this toxic classification that seems to be the crux of her decision but it is evidence of the oil industry successfully pulling the plastic bag over her eyes.
The case to fight the ban on plastic stir sticks, straws, grocery bags, cutlery, takeout containers and six-pack beverage rings in Canada was brought by the fossil fuel behemoths like Dow Chemical, Nova Chemicals and Imperial Oil. These are the companies primarily responsible for the 3 million tonnes of plastic waste thrown away by Canadians every year.
This grasping-at-straws move by ‘Big Plastic’ is a doubling down on the lie they’ve been telling for 50 years. They knew it then and they know it now. Plastic is incredibly difficult and expensive to recycle. In fact, only nine per cent of the plastic that makes its way into a blue bin is ever recycled – the rest is actual garbage. The plastics industry has spent millions of marketing dollars claiming that plastic can be recycled while making billions of dollars knowing it can’t.
When people think of why plastic is bad, they think of that picture they saw of the turtle with the straw stuck in its nose. While a horrible image, the waste created by plastic is only the tip of the giant melting iceberg when it comes to the catastrophic impact it is having on the planet.
It starts at the beginning; plastic comes from fossil fuels and estimates are up to eight per cent of all global oil production is to produce plastics. Annually, the greenhouse-gas emissions from the manufacturing of ethylene, the building block for plastic are the equivalent of what 50 million cars produce in a year. The carbon dioxide emissions from plastic production are expected to increase by 35 per cent in the next 25 years with plastic accounting for 20 per cent of all oil production.
That’s just the start of its never-ending lifecycle.
Once the non-recycled plastic finds its way into rivers, lakes and landfills, it starts to breakdown, very slowly. In fact a plastic laundry jug takes over 450 years to breakdown. If the people who came over on the Mayflower were throwing laundry jugs into the ocean, they would still be breaking down. If Sir Issac Newton had used a plastic water bottle to discover gravity instead of an apple, it would still be lying there on the ground breaking down.
As discarded plastics are exposed to the sun, heat and water they once again start emitting dangerous levels of greenhouse gases and while they decompose, they break down into microplastics which enter the soil and water systems. These can never be cleaned up and are now everywhere. Scientists estimate that every human on the planet is consuming five grams of microplastics per week – about the weight on a credit card. Every. Single. Week.
The impact of climate change is at a tipping point, both at a micro and macro level. Global temperature records were shattered this year. July alone saw over 10,000 global heat records broken. Water temperatures off the coast of Florida this summer reached 100 degrees, hot tub level temperatures. 2023 will end as the hottest year on record. CO2 emissions from fossil fuels will also hit a record high this year. These two things are intrinsically connected. Meanwhile, Canadian oil sands companies saw their 2022 profits soar to a mind-blowing $34.7 billion, more than double the $15.1 billion they made in 2021.
Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault say the federal government is reviewing the decision to overturn the ban and is “strongly considering an appeal.” However, history has shown we can’t rely on the government, whether it be federal, provincial or municipal, to do what’s best when it comes to the environment and climate change. The onus is on us as individuals to stand up and make change on their own.
Andrew Murray is a member of the Clearview Sustainability Network, a citizen-led climate action group, and a partner at The Keep Refillery, a Creemore-based business with a mission to reduce plastic consumption.