Ontario’s New Democratic Party (NDP) has called for a prohibition of all single-use plastic products in the province by 2025, potentially posing new opportunities for promotional products distributors to sell more branded reusable products, such as tote bags and tumblers.

The Single-Use Plastics Ban Act, proposed by the NDP’s Ian Arthur, a member of provincial parliament representing the district of Kingston and the Islands in Ontario, would be rolled out in two phases. The first would outlaw, by 2020, what the legislation calls “the worst offenders” -- namely plastic bags, straws, plastic-lined coffee cups and black plastic food containers. The second phase would ban all single-use plastics entirely by 2025.

“Ontario is known around the world for its majestic lakes and rivers, and for the vastness of our pristine wilderness and the diversity of the wildlife,” Arthur told reporters this week. “Frighteningly, this reputation is becoming farther and farther from reality, as the amount of plastic debris littering our shorelines, including bottles, bags and straws, has increased drastically over the decades.”

The plastics discussion comes after Ontario’s Ministry of Environment, Conservation and Parks released a paper on March 6 entitled “Reducing Litter and Waste in Our Communities” that asked in part, “Would a ban on single-use plastics be effective in reducing plastic waste?” Canadians are invited to provide their comments on the proposal from now through the end of April, which may shape future legislation.

Still, it’s uncertain if the Progressive Conservative (PC) Party of Ontario, which now holds a majority government in Ontario under leader Rob Ford, would support a plastic prohibition.

Arthur said this week that, while the government doesn’t have a timeline to address what he says is an urgent issue, this legislation is ready to be implemented immediately.

“We need to accelerate the timeframe that we’re doing this on,” Arthur told reporters this week, “and I question how quickly the government is going to actually act on this issue.”

Last month, Newfoundland and Labrador proposed a plastic bag ban, and Starbucks announced it would be phasing out plastic straws starting in its Seattle and Vancouver, BC locations.

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