Canadians making progress on relying less on single-use plastics like straws and bags: StatCan

Part of the 'Turn Off The Plastic Tap' art installation by Benjamin Von Wong is photographed on its final day outside Ripley's Aquarium of Canada in Toronto on Monday, June 20, 2022. (THE CANADIAN PRESS/ Tijana Martin)

Canadians are making progress on moving away from single-use plastics by using fewer disposable straws and relying on reusable bags, water bottles and mugs, according to data from Statistics Canada.

The new figures come from Statistics Canada's biennial Households and the Environment Survey, which questioned 38,000 households in 2021 on topics such as energy consumption and hazardous products used at home.

"Data from the Households and the Environment Survey can help reveal the progress Canadian households are making with respect reducing their use of single-use plastics," a Statistics Canada spokesperson told CTVNews.ca.

The federal government will prohibit six common single-use plastics by the end of 2025. The incremental ban targets plastic bags, cutlery, stir sticks, straws, six-pack rings and takeout containers, with some exceptions for flexible straws to accommodate those with accessibility needs. By the end of this year, companies in Canada will be barred from importing or manufacturing most of these items.

STRAWS

One in five Canadian households (20 per cent) reported using plastic drinking straws in 2021, down from 23 per cent in 2019. Among those households, 39 per cent said they used four or more straws per week.

Plastic straw use was the most prevalent in Manitoba, where 29 per cent of households reported using them, with 41 per cent of those using four or more per week.

BAGS

Nearly every surveyed household, or 97 per cent, reported using their own bags or containers when grocery shopping. More than half (51 per cent) said they did this all the time, up from 43 per cent in 2019.

Households in Newfoundland and Labrador (89 per cent), P.E.I. (88 per cent) and Nova Scotia (81 per cent) were roughly twice as likely to report always using their own bags and containers for shopping when compared with households in Saskatchewan (39 per cent), Ontario (41 per cent), Alberta (41 per cent), B.C. (44 per cent) and Manitoba (49 per cent).

WATER BOTTLES

Canadians are also reaching for reusable water bottles, with nine in 10 households reporting their use in 2021. Of those, 85 per cent said they were used always or often.

Reusable water bottle use was highest in households in Lethbridge, Alta. (97 per cent), followed closely by Kingston, Greater Sudbury and Thunder Bay (95 per cent) in Ontario.

MUGS AND CUPS

In 2021, 86 per cent of households reported drinking hot beverages outside the home, with most doing so daily or weekly. Most of these (79 per cent) used a refillable mug or cup when they could, with nearly half (46 per cent) saying they did so always or often.

Respondents in Quebec were the least likely to report drinking hot beverages outside the home, but also the most likely to always or often use their own cup or mug (52 per cent).

PLASTIC WASTE

When it comes to single-use plastics, government data from 2019 shows 15.5 billion grocery bags, 5.8 billion straws, 4.5 billion pieces of cutlery, three billion stir sticks, 805 million takeout containers and 183 million six-pack rings were sold in Canada.

A 2019 study from Deloitte found that less than one tenth of plastic waste in Canada was being recycled, totalling 3.3 million tonnes of waste annually, with nearly half of that being plastic packaging.

The federal Liberals have set a target for zero plastic waste by 2030.

With files from The Canadian Press