# Canada single-use plastics ban vs B.C. regulation: 10 formats overlap, and B.C. alone reaches 13 more

> The Canada single-use plastics ban (SOR/2022-138) has barred the sale of plastic checkout bags, cutlery, stir sticks, straws and certain foam, PVC, black-pigment and oxo-degradable foodservice ware since 20 December 2023, and ring carriers since 20 June 2024; British Columbia's B.C. Reg. 254/2023 adds its own bans from 15 July 2024 on compostable takeout containers, PVDC, biodegradable plastic, oxo-degradable packaging and free bags.

Publisher: Strategic Packaging Insights  
Published: 2026-11-01  
Last updated: 2026-11-01  
Page: https://www.strategicpackaginginsights.com/insights/canada-single-use-plastics-ban-bc-regulation-item-lists/

**The Canada single-use plastics ban (SOR/2022-138) has barred the sale of plastic checkout bags, cutlery, stir sticks, straws and certain foam, PVC, black-pigment and oxo-degradable foodservice ware since 20 December 2023, and ring carriers since 20 June 2024; British Columbia's B.C. Reg. 254/2023 adds its own bans from 15 July 2024 on compostable takeout containers, PVDC, biodegradable plastic, oxo-degradable packaging and free bags.**

Strategic Packaging Insights (SPI) laid the two item lists side by side, format by format, using the federal text as consolidated to 30 September 2026 and the provincial text as consolidated to 27 October 2026. Of 27 formats a food service, retail or packaging business is likely to hold, 10 are caught by both rules, 2 by the federal rule only, 13 by B.C. only and 2 by neither, so a supplier that passes the federal test can still fail in B.C.

## Executive summary

Canada regulates single-use plastic at two levels, and in British Columbia the two lists are not the same. The federal Single-use Plastics Prohibition Regulations, SOR/2022-138, define six item types and ban their manufacture, import and sale. B.C.'s Single-Use and Plastic Waste Prevention Regulation, B.C. Reg. 254/2023, works by material class and by who supplies the item, and it reaches packaging that Ottawa never listed. The province itself describes the federal rule as the national minimum and its own as building on it (B.C. Government, updated 19 September 2024).

SPI compared 27 formats that restaurants, grocers and packaging suppliers handle every day (Exhibit 4). Ten are caught by both rules, including foam clamshells, PVC containers, plastic cutlery and plastic checkout bags. Two are federal-only: ring carriers and takeout containers made with certain black pigments. Thirteen are caught only in B.C., among them compostable plastic takeout containers used by restaurants, PVDC and biodegradable plastic ware, foam egg cartons, oxo-degradable packaging of any kind, paper bags sold below CAD 0.25 and accessories handed out without a request.

The timing also differs. Federal sale bans took effect on 20 December 2023 for five item types and on 20 June 2024 for ring carriers; B.C.'s accessory limits started on the same 20 December 2023, and its bag, food service ware and oxo-degradable rules on 15 July 2024, 208 days later by SPI's calculation. Two B.C. exemptions are still running down: PVC film wrap until 1 July 2028 and foam trays for raw meat, poultry and fish until 1 July 2030.

The federal list now sits before the Supreme Court of Canada, which granted leave on 15 October 2026 in docket 42277 to hear the challenge to the toxic listing behind the ban. B.C.'s regulation rests on provincial law, so SPI also mapped which federal items B.C. would still reach on its own (Exhibit 10): bags in full, cutlery, stir sticks and some foodservice ware in part, straws on request only, and ring carriers not at all.

For leaders, the work is a SKU-level sort, not a policy reading. Tag each item against both lists, split customers into food service providers and other businesses, and plan the 2028 and 2030 switchovers now. This is business guidance, not legal advice.

## Key findings

1. Of 27 common formats, 10 are caught by both rules, 2 by the federal rule only, 13 by B.C. Reg. 254/2023 only and 2 by neither (SPI analysis, Exhibit 4).
2. Federal sale bans have applied since 20 December 2023 for checkout bags, cutlery, foodservice ware, stir sticks and straws, and since 20 June 2024 for ring carriers and flexible straws packed with drinks (ECCC overview, modified 2 March 2026).
3. B.C. bans compostable plastic takeout and delivery containers for food service providers since 15 July 2024, while the same items stay legal for grocery and retail sale (B.C. food service ware factsheet; section 11).
4. In B.C. every carry-out bag must be sold, at no less than CAD 0.25 for a paper bag with at least 40% recycled content and CAD 2.00 for a reusable bag, against a federal rule that bans plastic bags but sets no price.
5. **SPI analysis:**  if the federal listing fell, B.C. law would still fully cover 1 of the 6 federal item types (checkout bags), which were 124,746 of the 149,300 tonnes of banned items sold in Canada in 2019, or 83.6% by SPI's calculation (Canada Gazette RIAS, 22 June 2022).
6. **SPI calculation:**  the federal first-offence minimum for a corporation other than a small revenue corporation on indictment, CAD 500,000, is 2.5 times B.C.'s maximum fine of CAD 200,000 per offence; at that maximum, 30 separate daily B.C. counts would reach CAD 6,000,000, the federal ceiling (CEPA s. 272; Environmental Management Act ss. 120 and 122).

## What the Canada single-use plastics ban covers

The federal rule is short and precise. SOR/2022-138 was registered on 20 June 2022 under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 (CEPA), and it defines six item types, each by shape and by a technical test (Justice Laws, current to 30 September 2026). It does not define "single-use plastic" on its own; the phrase appears only as a prefix to each item.

Cutlery and straws are caught if they contain polystyrene or polyethylene, or if they change their physical properties after 100 runs through a household dishwasher. A checkout bag is any plastic bag designed to carry goods bought from a business; a fabric bag is caught only if it breaks or tears when used to carry 10 kg over 53 m 100 times, or when washed by the single domestic wash procedure in ISO 6330. Foodservice ware is limited to clamshells, lidded containers, boxes, cups, plates and bowls designed for food or drink that is ready to eat, and only where they contain expanded or extruded polystyrene foam, PVC, a black pigment made by incomplete combustion of hydrocarbons, or oxo-degradable plastic (section 1).

Section 7 requires any test of physical characteristics to be done by a laboratory accredited to ISO/IEC 17025 by a body that signs the ILAC arrangement, or under Québec's Environment Quality Act. Sections 8 and 9 require five years of records for items made or imported for export, kept at the principal place of business in Canada or another Canadian address given to the Minister.

The 2022 impact statement estimated 29,654 million units and 149,300 tonnes of these items sold in Canada in 2019, and a net cut of about 1.3 million tonnes of plastic waste over 2023 to 2032, at a present value cost of about CAD 2 billion (Canada Gazette Part II, 22 June 2022). Checkout bags dominate the tonnage; cutlery and straws dominate the item count after bags.

Exports are the one moving part. The section 10 amendment that barred manufacture, import and sale for export took effect on 20 December 2025, 42 months after registration. On the same day, the Canada Gazette Part I published a proposal to add a new subsection 2(2) exempting all six item types when made, imported or sold for export, while keeping the domestic bans and the five-year record duty (Canada Gazette Part I, 20 December 2025). Its consultation ran from 20 December 2025 to 28 February 2026, and ECCC's registry still lists it as proposed. The Justice Laws consolidation, current to 30 September 2026, shows the last amendment as 20 December 2025, so SPI has not yet confirmed a final repeal.

## BC single-use plastic regulation: what the province adds

B.C. Reg. 254/2023 was deposited on 1 December 2023 under the Environmental Management Act. It has three working parts, and each is built differently from the federal rule (King's Printer, current to 27 October 2026).

Part 2 bans the sale or distribution of any packaging or single-use product made wholly or partly of oxo-degradable plastic, defined as plastic with an additive that breaks it into microfragments through oxidation. That is wider than the federal rule, which reaches oxo-degradable plastic only inside its foodservice ware definition. Medical devices under the Pharmaceutical Services Act and items for sale outside B.C. are exempt.

Part 3 rebuilds the shopping bag. A business may not hand out a bag to carry goods away unless the regulation allows it, and the only bags it may sell are recycled paper bags with at least 40% recycled content, marked with the percentage and the word "recyclable", at no less than CAD 0.25, and reusable bags made to be machine-washed at least 100 times, at no less than CAD 2.00. The customer must first be offered the chance to use their own bag, the price must be disclosed and the charge must sit on its own receipt line (sections 4 to 6).

Part 4 deals with food service ware and accessories. It sets two lists of prohibited materials, class A and class B, and ties each to a type of business (section 9). It limits accessories such as straws, napkins and lids to customers who ask for them, bans single-use plastic utensils from food service providers, and bans bundled accessory packs (sections 12 to 14).

The material lists apply to a wider set of shapes than the federal one. B.C.'s definition of food service ware covers bowls, cartons, cups, lidded containers, plates, platters, trays and film wrap, and the province's factsheet adds take-out containers, hinged containers and egg cartons as examples. The federal definition stops at six shapes and only for food that is ready to eat. That gap is why foam egg cartons and foam trays sit inside the B.C. rule and outside the federal one, in SPI's reading of both texts.

Who acts also differs. The federal duties fall on any person who manufactures, imports or sells. B.C.'s class B ban falls on every business operator that sells or distributes the ware or food packaged in it, and its class A ban, the stricter one, on food service providers only. A grocer selling compostable plastic plates is lawful in B.C.; a café serving a salad in the same plate for takeout is not.

## Twenty-seven formats, side by side

Exhibit 4 is the core of this piece. SPI chose 27 formats that appear in restaurant, grocery and converter catalogues and read each against both texts. A format counts as caught where a rule bans it or limits how it may be supplied, such as on request only or only at a minimum price.

SPI analysis

Three patterns stand out. First, the overlap is concentrated in the items that most people picture when they hear "plastics ban": film bags, plastic forks, straws, stir sticks and foam clamshells. Second, the federal-only cells are narrow. Ring carriers and black-pigment containers are both items that B.C.'s material classes do not name. Third, B.C.'s extra reach comes from three design choices: it bans materials rather than shapes, it treats who supplies the item as part of the test, and it regulates how freely items are handed out, not only whether they exist.

The two cells marked "neither" deserve a note. Clear PET containers are outside both texts, and B.C.'s section 11(2) expressly exempts paper and plant-fibre ware lined with compostable or other allowable plastic. Those two formats are where much of the market has gone, which is consistent with the federal impact statement's view that most of the ban's cost is substitution.

A third layer sits under both. B.C. says municipalities can set their own single-use bylaws, which may be stricter than the provincial rule (B.C. Government, updated 19 September 2024). SPI has not yet confirmed the current bylaw lists of individual B.C. municipalities, so a format marked "allowed" in Exhibit 4 may still be restricted locally.

## Dates: from 2022 to 2030

The two rules were built on overlapping clocks. The federal one runs from registration in June 2022 to the export ban in December 2025; the provincial one from deposit in December 2023 to the last exemption in July 2030. The court case adds a third clock.

One date lines up exactly. B.C.'s accessory limits took effect on 20 December 2023, the same day as the federal sale ban on cutlery, straws and stir sticks, so restaurants met both changes at once. The provincial bag and ware rules came 208 days later, on 15 July 2024, by SPI's calculation.

The remaining B.C. deadlines are 608 days away for PVC film wrap and 1,338 days away for foam raw-protein trays, counted from 1 November 2026 by SPI's calculation. Both exemptions are written into section 11 with their repeal dates, so no further regulation is needed for them to end.

## Bags: one bans a material, the other sets a price

Bags are where the two rules look most alike and work most differently. The federal rule bans plastic checkout bags of any thickness, and tests fabric bags so that a heavy woven polypropylene bag passes only if it survives 100 uses carrying 10 kg over 53 m and an ISO 6330 wash. It sets no rule for paper and no charge for anything.

B.C. starts from the opposite end: no bag at all may be handed out to carry goods away, unless the regulation allows it. The allowed bags are priced. Paper must be at least 40% recycled and sold for CAD 0.25 or more; a reusable bag must be made for at least 100 machine washes and sold for CAD 2.00 or more. Retailers with 500 or more employees in B.C., counting franchise arrangements together, must keep the average number of paper and reusable bags sold per transaction for each of the previous two years (section 8).

SPI analysis

The federal bag ban covers the item that made up 83.6% of the 2019 tonnage, but it leaves the replacement bag to the market. B.C. regulates the replacement too. For a national retailer, that means one bag specification for most of Canada and a second set of point-of-sale rules in B.C., with a separate receipt line and record-keeping for the largest operators.

In practice: McDonald's Canada.

McDonald's reported 1,520 restaurants in Canada at 31 December 2025, out of 45,356 worldwide (McDonald's Restaurants by Market 2025). Its SPI Buyers Database profile notes that the federal rule bans plastic straws, cutlery and some foodservice ware, and that B.C. has barred foam and PVC food service ware since 15 July 2024. For a chain of that size, B.C.'s section 7 delivery and drive-through bag exemption and its section 12 drive-through lid exception are the operating details that matter, because they decide what crews may hand out without asking.

## Utensils, straws and accessories: a ban and a request rule

The federal rule bans plastic cutlery, stir sticks and most plastic straws outright, with a narrow path for flexible straws. Under section 5, flexible straws may be sold in non-commercial, non-industrial and non-institutional settings, in packages of 20 or more from one business to another, and in retail stores only when the customer asks and the package is kept out of view without a store employee's help. Hospitals, medical facilities, long-term care homes and other care institutions may supply them to patients or residents.

B.C. adds a behavioural rule on top. A food service provider may give out a single-use accessory, which the regulation defines to include cup lids and sleeves, condiments, straws, garnishes, napkins, utensils and wet wipes, only when the customer asks for it or accepts it, including electronically, or from a self-serve station (section 12). Cup lids may go out with delivery and drive-through orders, and care facilities and correctional settings have their own exceptions. Section 13 bans any single-use utensil wholly or partly made of plastic, and B.C. counts stir sticks and splash plugs as utensils. Section 14 bans bundled accessory packs, except in care facilities. Sections 12 to 14 do not apply to accessories sold in quantities of 20 or more (section 10).

In practice: Tim Hortons (Restaurant Brands International).

RBI reports that Tim Hortons launched a strawless cold beverage lid in Canada and the US in 2019, using 15% less plastic than the former lid and straw, and estimates that these changes avoid 420 million plastic straws a year. It reports paper straws replacing plastic for frozen drinks across Canada in 2021, wooden stir sticks avoiding 75 million plastic stir sticks a year, and wooden and fibre cutlery introduced across Canada in 2023, eliminating an estimated 90 million single-use plastics a year. RBI also states that EPS foam has been eliminated from approved guest packaging globally since 2022 (RBI Packaging and Recycling page, consulted 1 November 2026). Those choices meet the federal list; in B.C., the wooden cutlery and paper straws still fall under the on-request rule.

## Compostable plastic: allowed on the shelf, barred at the counter

The sharpest split between the two lists is compostable plastic. Federal law does not name it: a compostable plastic container is outside SOR/2022-138 unless it also contains foam polystyrene, PVC, the listed black pigment or oxo-degradable plastic. Compostable plastic cutlery and straws are a different case, because the federal test catches cutlery and straws that change after 100 dishwasher cycles, whatever the resin.

B.C. puts compostable plastic in class A. Since 15 July 2024 a food service provider may not serve takeout, delivery or ready-to-eat food or drink in ware made wholly or partly of it (section 11(1)). The same material is not in class B, so a grocer or other retailer may still sell compostable plastic plates, cups and containers. The province's factsheet says so in one line, quoted below.

The exemption that keeps much of the takeout market working is section 11(2): paper or plant-fibre ware lined with compostable plastic, or another allowable plastic, may still be used by food service providers. The test is therefore not "is there any plastic", but "is the container made of a prohibited material, or is it fibre with a permitted lining".

SPI analysis

For packaging suppliers, this makes customer type a product attribute. The same SKU can be lawful for a supermarket's picnic aisle and unlawful for the café next door. Suppliers that sell into B.C. need customer files tagged by whether each buyer is a food service provider, because the regulation's test turns on that fact rather than on the product alone.

## Exemptions, side by side

Each rule carries exemptions that the other does not. Most federal exemptions concern the supply chain: transit and waste. Most B.C. exemptions concern destination, material lining and two time-limited formats.

In practice: Recycle BC.

B.C.'s producer programme still prices expanded polystyrene, at CAD 4.07 per kg in its 2026 fee schedule, the highest line in the schedule (SPI EPR & Plastic Tax Calculator; Recycle BC 2026 Fee Schedule). **SPI analysis:**  that is not a contradiction. The class B ban reaches food service ware and food packed in it, while foam used as protective packaging, and the raw-protein trays exempt until 2030, can still reach B.C. households and so still carry an EPR fee. The province's fee rules are covered in [SPI's piece on Canadian packaging EPR by province](https://www.strategicpackaginginsights.com/insights/canada-packaging-epr-by-province/).

## A framework: four quadrants for a B.C. product list

The 27 formats fall into four groups, and each group calls for a different action. SPI uses the two lists as the axes of a simple 2x2: is the format caught federally, and is it caught in B.C.?

The quadrant that carries the most work is "B.C. only", because it depends on facts a national product file often lacks: whether the buyer is a food service provider, whether a fibre container's lining is a permitted plastic, and whether the food in a foam tray is raw protein. The "federal only" quadrant is small but exposed to the court case.

## If the federal listing fell: what B.C. would still reach

The federal regulations rest on the 2021 order adding "plastic manufactured items" to Schedule 1 of CEPA. The Federal Court quashed that order on 16 November 2023, the decision was stayed pending appeal, and the Federal Court of Appeal allowed the government's appeal on 30 January 2026 (2026 FCA 17). The Supreme Court of Canada granted leave on 15 October 2026, with costs in the cause, and the Registrar has set the notice of appeal for 16 November 2026 and the appellants' factum for 18 January 2027; the hearing date is to be confirmed (Supreme Court docket 42277, modified 16 October 2026). The procedure is covered in [SPI News on the Supreme Court appeal](https://www.strategicpackaginginsights.com/news/canada-supreme-court-plastics-toxic-listing-appeal/).

B.C.'s regulation rests on the Environmental Management Act, not on CEPA. So SPI mapped how far B.C. law alone reaches each federal item type. This is a reading of today's texts, not a forecast of the outcome; SPI does not rank the outcomes, and any remedy would be set by the Court. The Federal Plastics Registry, a reporting duty under the same federal statute, is covered separately in [SPI's piece on the Federal Plastics Registry](https://www.strategicpackaginginsights.com/insights/federal-plastics-registry-canada-plastic-packaging-reporting/).

**SPI calculation:**  the item B.C. would fully cover is 124,746 of 149,300 tonnes, or 83.6% of the 2019 federal tonnage. Partial cover adds 23,906 tonnes across cutlery, foodservice ware, straws and stir sticks, or 16.0%, and ring carriers, with no B.C. cover, are 648 tonnes, or 0.4%. Those are national figures used to weigh the item types; SPI has not yet confirmed a B.C.-only split.

## Enforcement and penalties, in Canadian dollars

Both rules are enforced through their parent statutes. The federal prohibitions are designated provisions under CEPA, so breaches fall under section 272, which sets minimum as well as maximum fines (Justice Laws, current to 30 September 2026). B.C.'s regulation sets no fines itself; selling or distributing contrary to it breaches section 11 of the Environmental Management Act, an offence under section 120(2)(c), and section 122(1) lets a court impose a separate fine for each day an offence continues (King's Printer, current to 27 October 2026).

The enforcement record is thin. ECCC's pages, as recorded in SPI's tracker on 14 October 2026, list no conviction under the federal regulations, and SPI has not identified a published enforcement action under B.C. Reg. 254/2023. B.C. says its focus is ongoing education, outreach and awareness, under its risk-based compliance model, and it takes public reports of suspected breaches through an online form (B.C. Government regulation page).

## Scenarios: what a continuing B.C. breach could cost

B.C.'s fine is lower per offence, but section 122(1) allows a separate fine for each day. SPI ran a simple sensitivity on one B.C.-only format, for example a café still serving compostable plastic takeout containers, which the federal rule does not catch.

**SPI calculation:**  CAD 200,000 x 7 = CAD 1,400,000, and CAD 200,000 x 30 = CAD 6,000,000. The point is not the size of a likely fine, which no published B.C. case yet indicates, but that a B.C.-only item is not a low-stakes item. The federal minimum on indictment, CAD 500,000, is 2.5 times the B.C. maximum for one day.

## Industry reaction

> "The Single-use Plastics Prohibition Regulations remain in force."

***Environment and Climate Change Canada** , federal regulator, [Single-use Plastics Prohibition Regulations: overview](https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/services/managing-reducing-waste/reduce-plastic-waste/single-use-plastic-overview.html), modified 2 March 2026*

The same page sets out the six item types and their manufacture, import, sale and export dates; it does not mention the Supreme Court leave decision of 15 October 2026.

> "The FCA allowed the appeal and dismissed the application for judicial review."

***Federal Court of Appeal** , [plain language summary of 2026 FCA 17](https://www.fca-caf.ca/en/pages/decisions/plain-language-decision-summaries/2026-fca-17), 30 January 2026*

The summary also records that the court answered the constitutional question in the negative, restoring the listing on which SOR/2022-138 depends.

> "The federal regulation sets minimum requirements for single-use plastics nationally."

***B.C. Government** , Ministry of Environment, [How plastics laws work together](https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/environment/waste-management/zero-waste/plastics/gov), updated 19 September 2024*

The page adds that municipalities may set bylaws with stricter requirements than the provincial regulation, and that businesses must meet local, provincial and federal law together.

> "Products made of compostable plastic are still permitted."

***B.C. Government** , [Food service ware regulation factsheet](https://www2.gov.bc.ca/assets/gov/environment/waste-management/recycling/recycle/food_service_ware_regulation_factsheet.pdf), Single-Use and Plastic Waste Prevention Regulation toolkit*

The factsheet pairs that line with the class A ban: compostable plastic takeout and delivery containers are prohibited for food service providers, while retail sale continues.

## Who must act, role by role

The two rules land on different parts of the chain. Federal duties start at the factory and the border; B.C. duties start at the counter.

## What leaders should do now

1. **Packaging and compliance leads, by 31 December 2026:**  tag every SKU supplied into B.C. against both lists using the four quadrants in Exhibit 9, recording resin, coating and lining for each.
2. **Sales operations, by 31 December 2026:**  mark each B.C. customer as a food service provider or another business operator, because compostable plastic ware is lawful for one and not the other.
3. **Retail operations in B.C., now:**  check point-of-sale settings for the CAD 0.25 and CAD 2.00 minimum bag charges, the separate receipt line and, at 500 or more B.C. employees, the two-year bag records.
4. **Procurement, by 30 June 2027:**  contract replacements for PVC cling film used in B.C. ahead of the 1 July 2028 end of the exemption, and start foam raw-protein tray trials ahead of 1 July 2030.
5. **Legal and public affairs, from 16 November 2026:**  follow the Supreme Court filings in docket 42277 and keep federal-only formats, ring carriers and black-pigment containers, on a watch list; do not reintroduce any item on the strength of the leave decision.
6. **Export and finance teams, now:**  keep section 8 export records for five years and track whether the proposed export repeal is made final.
7. **Restaurant and delivery operators in B.C., now:**  default apps and order screens to no accessories, and keep the records delivery platforms must hold under section 15.

## Questions for your board

- How many of our B.C. SKUs sit in the "B.C. only" quadrant, and who owns the list?
- Do our customer files show which B.C. buyers are food service providers?
- What share of our B.C. food service ware is fibre with a compostable lining, and have we confirmed each lining is permitted?
- When do our PVC film and foam tray replacements reach B.C. stores, against the 2028 and 2030 dates?
- Which of our products depend only on the federal list, and what would change if the toxic listing were overturned?
- Have we checked municipal bylaws in the B.C. cities where we trade?

## What to watch

- **16 Nov 2026:**  notice of appeal due in Supreme Court docket 42277, under the Registrar's schedule of 15 October 2026.
- **14 Dec 2026:**  attorneys general intending to intervene on a constitutional question file their notices.
- **18 Jan 2027:**  appellants' factum, record and book of authorities due; motions to intervene follow by 15 February 2027.
- **8 Mar 2027:**  respondents' factum due; the hearing date is to be confirmed by the Court.
- **No date set:**  a final regulation on the proposed export ban repeal, published as a proposal on 20 December 2025.
- **1 Jul 2028:**  B.C.'s PVC film wrap exemptions in section 11 are repealed.
- **1 Jul 2030:**  B.C.'s exemption for foam trays holding raw meat, poultry or fish ends.

## Methodology

- **Data used:**  SOR/2022-138 as consolidated on Justice Laws to 30 September 2026; the 2022 Regulatory Impact Analysis Statement; ECCC's overview page (modified 2 March 2026); the December 2025 proposed amendment and its registry entry; B.C. Reg. 254/2023 as consolidated by the King's Printer to 27 October 2026; B.C. Government regulation pages and factsheet; CEPA section 272; Environmental Management Act sections 120 to 122; Supreme Court of Canada docket 42277 (modified 16 October 2026); SPI Regulation Tracker records [PR-CA-001](https://www.strategicpackaginginsights.com/data/packaging-regulation-tracker/canada/pr-ca-001/), [PR-CA-005](https://www.strategicpackaginginsights.com/data/packaging-regulation-tracker/canada/pr-ca-005/) and the Canada jurisdiction note; consulted 14 October to 1 November 2026.
- **Format list:**  the 27 formats in Exhibit 4 are an SPI selection of items common in food service, grocery and converter catalogues, not a legal category. A format counts as caught where a rule bans it or limits how it may be supplied. Where federal coverage depends on a test (dishwasher cycles, ready-to-eat food), SPI shows the test.
- **Calculations:**  tonnage shares use the government's 2019 national estimates; day counts run from 1 November 2026; penalty scenarios use statutory maximums and minimums only, in CAD, with no conversion.
- **Cut-off:**  1 November 2026.
- **Limitations:**  SPI has not yet confirmed municipal bylaws in B.C., a final federal export repeal, or a B.C.-only split of federal tonnage. This is analysis, not legal advice; check edge cases with counsel.

## Sources

1. Justice Laws, Single-use Plastics Prohibition Regulations, SOR/2022-138, full text (current to 30 September 2026, last amended 20 December 2025), [https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/regulations/SOR-2022-138/FullText.html](https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/regulations/SOR-2022-138/FullText.html), consulted 2026-11-01.
2. Canada Gazette, Part II, SOR/2022-138 with Regulatory Impact Analysis Statement (22 June 2022), [https://gazette.gc.ca/rp-pr/p2/2022/2022-06-22/html/sor-dors138-eng.html](https://gazette.gc.ca/rp-pr/p2/2022/2022-06-22/html/sor-dors138-eng.html), consulted 2026-11-01.
3. Environment and Climate Change Canada, Single-use plastics prohibition regulations overview (modified 2 March 2026), [https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/services/managing-reducing-waste/reduce-plastic-waste/single-use-plastic-overview.html](https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/services/managing-reducing-waste/reduce-plastic-waste/single-use-plastic-overview.html), consulted 2026-11-01.
4. Canada Gazette, Part I, Regulations Amending the Single-use Plastics Prohibition Regulations, proposed (20 December 2025), [https://gazette.gc.ca/rp-pr/p1/2025/2025-12-20/html/reg1-eng.html](https://gazette.gc.ca/rp-pr/p1/2025/2025-12-20/html/reg1-eng.html), consulted 2026-11-01.
5. ECCC Environmental Protection Registry, Regulations Amending the Single-use Plastics Prohibition Regulations [Proposed], [https://pollution-waste.canada.ca/environmental-protection-registry/regulations/view?Id=2204](https://pollution-waste.canada.ca/environmental-protection-registry/regulations/view?Id=2204), consulted 2026-11-01.
6. Justice Laws, Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999, section 272 (current to 30 September 2026), [https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/C-15.31/section-272.html](https://laws-lois.justice.gc.ca/eng/acts/C-15.31/section-272.html), consulted 2026-11-01.
7. Supreme Court of Canada, case information, docket 42277 (modified 16 October 2026), [https://www.scc-csc.ca/cases-dossiers/search-recherche/42277/](https://www.scc-csc.ca/cases-dossiers/search-recherche/42277/), consulted 2026-11-01.
8. Federal Court of Appeal, plain language summary, 2026 FCA 17 (30 January 2026), [https://www.fca-caf.ca/en/pages/decisions/plain-language-decision-summaries/2026-fca-17](https://www.fca-caf.ca/en/pages/decisions/plain-language-decision-summaries/2026-fca-17), consulted 2026-11-01.
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14. Restaurant Brands International, Packaging and Recycling, [https://www.rbi.com/English/sustainability/planet/packaging-and-recycling/default.aspx](https://www.rbi.com/English/sustainability/planet/packaging-and-recycling/default.aspx), consulted 2026-11-01.
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17. SPI Regulation Tracker, PR-CA-001, PR-CA-005 and the Canada jurisdiction note, /data/packaging-regulation-tracker/canada/, consulted 2026-10-14.
18. SPI Packaging Buyers Database, McDonald's profile, /data/packaging-buyers-database/, consulted 2026-10-14.
19. SPI News, Canada's Supreme Court will hear the plastics toxic listing appeal (16 October 2026), /news/canada-supreme-court-plastics-toxic-listing-appeal/, consulted 2026-11-01.