FIRST PHASE OF PLASTIC BAN BEGAN IN DECEMBER

plastic was safer and sealed off," he said. "We even had wholesale accounts that refused to accept product unless it was in a plastic bag inside a paper bag."

He said he's looking forward to not having to use them.

"I look forward to their banning. Honestly, I would love to not have it as an option," he said. "That's one of the challenges of running a business, is you're sort of stuck between your principles and your ethics, and the realities of what the market demands."

The first phase of the federal law began on Dec. 20, which prohibits the manufacturing and import-for-sale of single-use plastics, such as: grocery store checkout bags; cutlery; takeout containers made partially or fully from plastic, including Styrofoam, carbon black and oxo-degradable plastic; stir sticks; and drinking straws.

December 2023 will see a ban on the sale of all these products, and in December 2025 a ban on the manufacture, import and export for sale will come into effect.

St. Catharines MP Chris Bittle said the decision for the ban was made because ultimately, there's too much plastic waste.

"It's not good for our health, and it's not good for the environment," he said. "We need to find a way to reduce that, and this is a start."

Ultimately, CampbellLuxton said plastic is popular because it's "easy and cheap," and also because the disposal costs fall on the public sector, not the private sector.

He said a full life-cycle analysis should be built into the market, to keep the manufacturing companies accountable for their products' disposal.

"It should be if you're going to put a product out in the marketplace, you should be responsible for how it gets ultimately dealt with," he said.

In Niagara-on-the-Lake, Plant No. 01's whole meaning is to be eco-friendly, and vegan.

"The basic mandate was plant-based food and with as little waste as possible and eliminating everything we can that we think is unnecessary to consume, meaning, artificial colours, flavours, preservatives, no GMOs, unbleached flours, that type of thing," said owner Carolyn Bernacci. "We really make a concerted effort to keep waste to an absolute minimum. The compostable packaging is a huge deal. We're zero plastic with all of our packaging."

Bernacci said they even managed to find compostable labels they can use on their packaging. The only issue, she said, is that some of these products are hard to find in Canada and she has to have them shipped in from the United States.

Both she and CampbellLuxton hope the ban makes Canadian manufactures get creative.

"I think part of the impetus for the legislation is that once you have the legislation in place, the hope is that the market will step up and there'll be some very interesting solutions to this," said Campbell-Luxton. "You force creativity on entrepreneurs. So, I look forward to seeing what comes along."

STORY BEHIND THE STORY: With parts of the single-use plastic ban coming into effect, reporter Abby Green wanted to speak with local restaurants that are already trying to reduce their waste.