A North Bay woman's dream will come true today as the federal government will announce a plan to ban harmful single-use plastics such as drinking straws as early as 2021.
No list of banned products will be unfurled immediately. Rather, the government wants to look at the best evidence and conduct studies to determine which products should be outlawed to help reduce the millions of tons of plastic waste that end up in oceans.
It's not a new idea to a pair of local scuba diving enthusiasts have taken their passion for the oceans right here to the city of North Bay.
Two winters ago Alisha Perron and her husband decided to erect a giant Humpback whale called “Blue,” made of snow on the front lawn of their home on Pinewood Crescent here in North Bay.
Perron hoped her blue giant would help raise awareness about the damage plastics are doing to the oceans
See: Local environmentalist happy with plastic straw progress
And: A whale of an idea
“Plastic is toxic and takes hundreds of years to biodegrade into tiny even more toxic pieces of microplastics,” said Perron.
“It is arguably one of the most detrimental waste products that is ending up in our oceans and ultimately into the animals that live in it.”
See: Trudeau announces plan to ban single-use plastics as early as 2021
The announcement was made by Prime Minister Justin Trudeau in Montreal, Environment Minister Catherine McKenna in Toronto and Fisheries and Oceans Minister Jonathan Wilkinson in British Columbia.
With files from the Canadian Press.
