This week, Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced plans to ban single-use plastics country-wide by 2021, which may pose an opportunity for promo firms to offer reusable alternatives.

While the specific items that would be prohibited have not yet been declared, pending a scientific review, Trudeau says the government is considering water bottles, plastic bags and straws.

Trudeau’s announcement comes just three months after the European Union announced a wide-ranging plan to ban plastics across its member countries in two years. In fact, Trudeau cited the EU’s recent move as inspiration.

“As early as 2021, Canada will ban harmful single-use plastics from coast to coast,” he said to reporters from a lake bank in the Gault Nature Reserve in Quebec. He added that “many other countries are doing that and Canada will be one of them. This is a big step but we know can do this for 2021.”

Canadians throw away 3 million tonnes of plastic waste every year. 15 billion plastic bags a year. 57 million straws a day. They end up in our oceans, beaches, parks and streets. And this has to stop. We owe it to our planet, and to our kids. https://t.co/QmniQdrz0U

— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) June 10, 2019

The Canadian government says that less than 10% of plastic there is recycled, and that a million birds and more than 100,000 sea mammals across the globe are injured or killed every year when they become entangled in plastic or eat it by mistake.

“To be honest, as a dad, it’s tough trying to explain this to my kids. How do you explain dead whales washing up on beaches around the world, their stomachs jam-packed with plastic bags?” Trudeau said. “As parents, we’re at a point when we take our kids to the beach and we have to search out a patch of sand that isn’t littered with straws, Styrofoam or bottles. That’s a problem, one that we have to do something about.”

Meanwhile, although the EU Parliament passed the plastics ban, legislatures of each of the member countries must vote on it before it officially takes effect. It includes a number of products for which there are reasonable alternatives, including cotton swab sticks, cutlery, plates, straws and earbuds. Disposable utensils must be made of sustainable materials whenever they’re available. The legislation also set a goal of 90% of plastic bottles being recycled by 2025.

The EU has estimated that the ban will cost the collective EU economy between $291 million to $781 million. Trudeau has not yet offered estimates of the cost in Canada.

Trudeau's announcement comes just four months before elections in Canada, when he will be up for re-election. His campaign counts climate change and pollution among its top issues.

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