cut the cutlery

Following our Straws Suck and Ban the Bag victories, Surfrider Pacific Rim is scaling efforts deeper within the west coast region to create an Ocean Friendly Corridor between Ucluelet and Tofino, with the longer-term goal of eliminating all single-use plastic takeaway packaging by the end of 2022. The next milestone for reaching this goal is banning plastic/bioplastic cutlery before the end of 2021!

Plastic cutlery cannot be recycled on the west coast, and thus it ends up in landfills, in public spaces, on beaches, and in the ocean. According to Environment and Climate Change Canada, Canada’s plastics recycling rate is a mere 9%, so this country landfills, incinerates, and loses 91% or 2.93 million tonnes of its plastic waste generated each year while discharging 29,000 metric tonnes to the environment. Additionally, plastic and bioplastic cutlery are now one of the most common plastic takeaway items used by local businesses.