The Single-use Plastics Prohibition Regulations (SUPPR), which bans the import, manufacture, and sale of plastic checkout bags, cutlery, foodservice ware, ring carriers, stir sticks and straws in Canada will begin to go into effect on Dec. 20, 2022.

The SUPR are part of the Government’s plan to address pollution, help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and meets its target of zero plastic waste by 2030.

The Regulations cover six categories of single-use plastics:

  • Checkout bags designed to carry purchased goods from a business and typically given to a customer at the retail point of sale.
  • Cutlery, which includes:
    • knives
    • forks
    • spoons
    • sporks
    • chopsticks
  • Foodservice ware designed for serving or transporting food or beverage that is ready to be consumed:
    • clamshell containers
    • lidded containers
    • boxes
    • cups
    • plates
    • bowls
    • that contains
      • expanded polystyrene foam
      • extruded polystyrene foam
      • polyvinyl chloride
      • carbon black
      • an oxo-degradable plastic
  • Ring carriers that are flexible and designed to surround beverage containers in order to carry them together.
  • Stir sticks designed to stir or mix beverages, or to prevent a beverage from spilling from the lid of its container.
  • Straws, including:
    • straight drinking straws
    • flexible straws packaged with beverage containers (juice boxes and pouches)

Certain flexible plastic straws that are not packaged with juice boxes are exempt from the regulation under certain conditions to continue to allow access to people who need them.

Timeline

The regulations will be implemented on a staggered timeline:

Item Manufacture and import for sale in Canada Sale Manufacture, import and sale for export
Checkout bags, cutlery, foodservice ware, stir sticks, straws December 20, 2022 December 20, 2023 December 20, 2025
Ring carriers June 20, 2023 June 20, 2024 December 20, 2025
Flexible straws packaged with beverage containers Not applicable June 20, 2024 December 20, 2025

 

For more information, you can consult the following documents and fact sheets:

Technical Guidelines for the Single-use Plastics Prohibition Regulations

Guidance for selecting alternatives to the single-use plastics as defined in the Regulations

Fact sheet: Single-use Plastics Prohibition Regulations

Fact sheet: Exceptions for Single-use Plastic Flexible Straws

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