GI-2025-51-reg1: Regulations Amending the Single-use Plastics Prohibition Regulations

If you manufacture or import single-use plastics in Canada, this change is good news — you can now export products like plastic checkout bags, cutlery, straws, and ring carriers again without running afoul of federal law. About 49 of the original 112 identified manufacturers still have equipment and capacity for these product lines, and 82% of them are small businesses, so this directly protects jobs and avoids costly asset write-offs for smaller operations. You will still need to keep records (invoices, contracts, or bills of lading) proving that any of these items were actually exported and not sold domestically, and you must hold those records for five years in case the government asks to see them — but that paperwork burden is estimated at only about $36 per business per year on average. Canadian food and beverage producers who import single-use plastic components (like straws attached to juice boxes) destined for foreign markets also benefit, since they were previously blocked from exporting those finished goods.