The Supreme Court of Canada says it will hear an appeal of Ottawa’s ban on single-use plastics.
The Federal Court of Appeal overturned a lower court decision in January, allowing the federal government to keep the ban in place.
A 2023 Federal Court decision in a case brought by the plastics industry said Ottawa had overstepped by designating all “plastic manufactured items” as toxic. But in a unanimous decision in January, the three-judge appellate panel ruled the federal government’s decision to list plastic manufactured items as toxic was reasonable.
Ottawa used that designation to issue a ban on the manufacturing and importing of six types of single-use plastics, including straws, grocery bags, stir sticks and the six-pack rings used to hold soda and beer cans.
The government said it chose those items because they were commonly found in litter and had known and accessible alternatives.
