Lindsay Beck, a lawyer with the environmental law charity Ecojustice , said the government is arguing it has legislative cover to justify limiting plastic waste.
The plastics companies challenging the federal government argue Ottawa is overstepping its jurisdiction by regulating waste management, typically an area of provincial jurisdiction. The new legislation "does not change the constitutional question at the heart of this application," the manufacturers' submission states.
"The United Nations has called plastic pollution the second biggest environmental crisis of our time after climate change," Beck said.