The Provincial Government is enacting a provincial ban on the distribution of retail plastic bags with the relevant regulations to come into force on July 1, 2020.

In April 2019, government amended the Environmental Protection Act and began drafting regulations to ban the distribution of retail plastic bags, which can be found online here  .

Consultations on whether and how to implement the ban were held in March 2019, and more than 3,000 submissions informed the drafting of the regulations.

Since the passing of the legislation, residents, businesses, governments and organizations have been actively decreasing the amount of plastic waste created by these bags and working to put alternatives in place.

To address the broader category of packaging, the Provincial Government is continuing to work with the Canadian Council of Ministers of the Environment to establish an Extended Producer Responsibility program for the management of packaging and printed paper as a long-term strategy. This builds on the province’s ongoing work with the council on the Zero Plastic Waste Strategy as part of the Ocean Plastics Charter.

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“By banning the use of single use plastic retail bags, we will all be playing a part in protecting the environment and improving the waste management system. I encourage anyone distributing or using these bags to use the time between now and July 1 to start new shopping habits and consider potential alternatives to retail plastic bags.”
Honourable Derrick Bragg
Minister of Municipal Affairs and Environment

Learn more
Plastic Bag Regulations

Consultations on Ban of Single Use Plastic Bag

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Media contact
Lynn Robinson
Municipal Affairs and Environment
709-729-5449, 691-9466
lynnrobinson@gov.nl.ca