Calgary company calls foul on Canada’s single-use plastics ban

A Calgary-based company is calling foul on the Canadian government’s decision to place bags made from compostable resins under the single-use plastics ban.

Compostable bags made by Leaf are made from polylactic acid and PBAT, a biodegradable polymer.

Jerry Gao, the president of the company, wants to eliminate single-use plastics, and while the Canadian prohibition of single-use plastics would seem like good news to a company like Gao’s, he says that’s not the case.

“In the beginning, we were thrilled to hear that we’re moving forward with a single-use plastic ban,” he told CityNews.

“But the more we talked to the government, the more we realized that they’re lumping in our compostable bags, and they’re calling them non-conventional plastic.”

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Gao says the bags are not plastic, and they have been trying hard to communicate to the Canadian government that the bags are an effective alternative to single-use plastics.

“The biggest issue right now for us is the government is allowing us to sell it from the shelf of a market, but when we ask them why can’t we sell it from the till because it’s exactly the same thing, I think the word visibility was mentioned numerous times so we’re kind of frustrated because we think environmental policy should be dictated by logic and reason instead of rhetoric.

Bags from Leaf are currently available for purchase at Calgary Co-op checkouts, and Co-op says they will be available until the ban comes into effect in December.

Co-op also states, “We continue to have conversations at the federal level in the hope we will get an exemption for our 100 per cent compostable bags, which contain zero per cent plastic.”

CityNews has reached out to Environment and Climate Change Canada for information on the government’s decision to include compostable bags as non-conventional plastics in the single-use plastic ban.