EAT WITH YOUR HANDS: Feds advice vs single use plastic forks

This could get messy.

The Environment Minister’s department wants Canadians to eat with their hands as a way to deal with Ottawa’s ban on single use plastic forks according to Blacklock’s Reporter.

The department also wants food trucks to ask customers to bring their own containers to cut down on takeout polystyrene boxes.

“Businesses should consider giving the customers the option to specify whether they require single use cutlery at all,” says a report titled Guidance For Selecting Alternatives To Single Use Plastics.

“Businesses could also consider providing more meal options that do not require the use of cutlery, e.g. wraps and sandwiches.”

The Single Use Plastic Prohibition Regulations will start being enforced in 2024 and ban six plastic products: single use cutlery, stir sticks, straws, polystyrene food containers, six-pack rings and checkout bags.

A 2021 report by the Environment Department said the plastics ban will cost $204 million in its first year.

“These costs are significant,” said the Regulatory Impact Analysis Statement.

“These substitutes would replace around 30 billion single use plastic items annually or around 800 single use plastic items per Canadian.”

The report said plastic forks costing four cents each would be replaced by wooden cutlery at nine cents each and plastic six-pack rings worth three cents each would be replaced with cardboard ones at 34 cents each.

It also said plastic checkout bags that cost three cents each could be replaced by paper bags costing eight cents each.

The Environment Department estimated shoppers use about 15.6 billion plastic bags each year.