TORONTO: Canada is considering ban single-use plastics across the country in just two years’ time. Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made an announcement on Monday, “I am very pleased to announce that as early as 2021, Canada will ban harmful, single-use plastics from coast to coast”.

On Monday he revealed Canada would be taking up the “global challenge” to reduce ocean waste by phasing out harmful items like straws and plastic bags.

Canada has a unique chance to make a real change in the fight against plastic pollution as the country has the world’s longest coastlines, Prime Minister Trudeau argued. Currently, less than 10 per cent of plastics used in Canada are recycled.

Each year, a million birds and more than 100,000 marine mammals worldwide are injured or killed by becoming entangled in plastic or ingesting it through the food chain.

Single-use items represent about 70 per cent of the plastic waste littering the marine environment.

The government has not announced yet as to exactly which plastic items will be banned. But plastic bags, cutlery, plates and stir sticks in any case are likely to be abolished.

Trudeau adding emotions to his appeal said it is “tough” trying to explain the problem to his own children.“How do you explain dead whales washing up on beaches around the world, their stomachs jam-packed with plastic bags?” he questioned. (Agencies)