Does a single-use plastics ban make sense? Would it work?

In today’s Big Story podcast, the oceans are clogged with plastics. Our recycling system is broken. Is it time to ban them wherever we can? The Liberal government’s new proposal to ban single-use plastics “as soon as 2021” could make that happen — but there’s an election in the way, not to mention that the proposal doesn’t have overwhelming public support.

But as we do on The Big Story, we’ll attempt to explain what this would mean and how it would work for normal humans — the sort of people who have a plastic bag filled with other plastic bags under the sink, or go through a plastic fork and knife with every second workday lunch. Would this proposal actually help? Would it change behaviour? What are the alternatives to these plastic products? And what do the people who spend their lives fighting for cleaner oceans think of it?

GUEST: Sarah King, head of Greenpeace Canada’s Oceans and Plastics campaign

You can subscribe to The Big Story podcast on Apple Podcasts, Google and Spotify.

You can also find it at thebigstorypodcast.ca.