Metro Morning
CBC Radio One
June 6, 2018

Montreal banned plastic bags. Vancouver is stamping out plastic straws. So what's Toronto doing to slash single-use plastic? We hear why more than 40 groups are calling on the Canadian government to step in.

Host Matt Galloway interviews Emily Alfred, TEA's Waste Campaigner.

Listen here: https://www.cbc.ca/listen/shows/metro-morning/segment/15549028

Highlights from Emily's interview:

“We can talk about bags specifically or straws specifically, but really it's a much bigger problem. There’s a lot of disposable and one-time use plastics that are escaping into our environment.”

“We are really waking up to the massive problem that plastics are having in our environment ...”

“We along with 40 other environmental NGO’s have sent a letter to the federal government saying ‘[it’s] great that you want to be international leaders on marine plastics. Let’s not just make it an agreement, let’s make it a binding treaty”

"The system we have right now is relying on the goodwill of companies and the goodwill of individuals… We need regulation from the top to make sure everyone is playing by the same rules … We can't wait. We can’t wait for people to decide to do this. We need to make the rules.”