Get comfortable using your metal straws: the Federal Court of Appeal has overturned a lower court decision, allowing Ottawa to keep its single-use plastic ban in place. 

The ban was enacted in 2021 as part of the Canadian Environmental Protection Act. It deemed plastics a toxic substance, leading to the ban of manufacturing and importing six types of single-use plastics, such as checkout bags, cutlery, Styrofoam containers, stir sticks and plastic straws.    

In 2023, The Responsible Plastic Use Coalition, which includes companies such as Dow Chemical, Imperial Oil, and Nova Chemical, appealed Ottawa’s decision. Federal Court Justice Angela Furlanetto agreed with the respondents and struck down the federal government’s ban, saying the decision to classify plastic-manufactured items as toxic was too wide-sweeping.

The Trudeau government expectedly appealed the ruling. 

Now, two years later, a unanimous decision from three appeal court justices ruled that Furlanetto had erred with her decision. Friday’s ruling reads that the Coalition’s attack on the plastic ban focused on the fact that plastics on their own are not toxic, however, a substance can be harmful, to the environment specifically, without being toxic. 

It might not be over yet, as the legal fight could continue in a new ring, the Supreme Court of Canada, should the plastic manufacturers launch a final appeal.