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Canada

Canada to ban single-use plastics by 2021, Trudeau announces

By Nicole Darrah Fox News
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Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced on Monday that Canada will ban single-use plastics by as early as 2021.

Speaking to reporters near Montreal, Trudeau said a list of items that will be banned was not yet prepared, but the government is planning to research which plastics should be eliminated.

MAINE IS FIRST STATE OF BAN SINGLE-USE PLASTIC-FOAM CONTAINERS

"We need to cover all of Canada with this decision and that's why the federal government is moving forward on a science-based approach to establishing which harmful single-use plastics we will be eliminating as of 2021," the prime minister said, according to CBC News.

A source told the news outlet that the list might include plastic plates, cotton swabs, drink stirrers, and polystyrene cups.

GRAPHIC IMAGES: Disgusting' 88-lb mass of plastic bags found in dead whale's stomach

GRAPHIC IMAGES: Disgusting' 88-lb mass of plastic bags found in dead whale's stomach

Scientists have removed 88 lbs of plastic bags from a dead whale's stomach in the Philippines. The juvenile male Cuvier's Beaked Whale's carcass was recovered on the shore of the Philippines' Compostela Valley province. Included in the find were 16 rice sacks and multiple shopping bags. The museum plans to release a full list of the plastic items recovered from the whale carcass.

Trudeau added that the government will make it the responsibility of businesses to manage what plastics they create and sell.

The prime minister also said it's "tough trying to explain" to his children why "dead whales [are] washing up on beaches around the world, their stomachs jam-packed with plastic bags," Reuters reported.

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“As parents, we’re at a point when we take our kids to the beach and we have to search out a patch of sand that isn’t littered with straws, Styrofoam or bottles. That’s a problem, one that we have to do something about," Trudeau said.

The decision by Canada comes after European Union lawmakers voted earlier this year to also ban single-use plastics by 2021.