The Federal Court of Appeal has ruled that Ottawa’s ban on the import and manufacture of single-use plastic items is reasonable, overturning a lower court decision three years ago.
The unanimous Jan. 30 decision by the three-judge panel found the federal government was reasonable in designating single-use plastic items as toxic and will allow the ban on their production or import.
The manufacturing and import ban was put in place in December 2022 under former Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault and includes single-use plastic items such as grocery bags, stir sticks, plastic straws, disposable polystyrene food containers, and plastic cutlery and dishes, with items like six-pack drink rings being phased out by 2024.
A Federal Court decision in 2023 found that Ottawa had overstepped its authority with the ban in a manner that was “unreasonable and unconstitutional.” The federal government first announced the ban as part of a plan to achieve “zero plastic waste” by 2030. The government said it chose the listed items because they were among the most commonly found as litter and had known and accessible alternatives.
The Jan. 30 appeal decision means the ban will continue and prohibit the manufacture of the six categories of single-use plastic items in Canada.
Ottawa proposed in December to ease its rules on single-use plastics to allow them to be manufactured and sold in Canada for export, saying the environmental benefits of keeping the full ban in place are outweighed by the economic disadvantages.
“The prohibition on export will not fulfil an environmental objective commensurate to its economic impact,” the government said in a Dec. 20 statement, adding that “the prohibition on export is not required to ensure that the regulations effectively protect the environment from the harms of plastic pollution.”
Conservatives have been critical of Ottawa’s domestic ban, with leader Pierre Poilievre saying during the 2025 federal election campaign that he would scrap the ban if his party formed government. Tory MP Dan Albas said in December 2025 that moving to lift the export ban while keeping the domestic ban in place contradicts Prime Minister Mark Carney’s statement that Canada would be its “own best customer” in the face of U.S. tariffs.
Food, Health & Consumer Products of Canada CEO Michael Graydon said lifting the export ban is a good move by Ottawa. The head of the national industry association noted in a social media post last month that “not all countries are as stringent on plastics as Canada” and it “allows for trade diversification.”
Canada’s plastics industry recorded roughly $35 billion in revenue in 2023 and government data indicated approximately 94 percent of the nation’s plastic exports went to the United States.
The Canadian Press and Carolina Avendano contributed to this report.
