PLASTIC BAG RULES BEGIN
Shops worried of high fines
As the ban on thin plastic bags came into effect in earnest Tuesday in Montreal, environmentalists hailed the move as an important first step in the fight against a global scourge.
Tuesday was also World Environment Day, and the United Nations issued a report describing plastic as one of the greatest threats to the planet, with eight million tonnes of plastic waste ending up in the world’s oceans each year.
At the same time, some Montreal shopkeepers protested against what they called draconian regulations. Shopkeepers and corporations found violating the ban face fines ranging from $200 to as high as $4,000 for repeat offences
“We are all human, we want what’s best for the planet,” said Tunc, the manager of a downtown dépanneur who asked that his last name not be used.
He has been warning his regular customers for three months that he would have to start charging 10 or 15 cents for thicker plastic bags, depending on the size. But many of his clients are tourists who don’t carry bags with them, he noted. City inspectors had already visited with directives, warning him of the fines.
“For a little store, it’s tough for me,” he said. “A $4,000 fine? That’s crazy.”
He used to pay $18 for 1,000 thin plastic bags. Now he pays $65 for 1,000 of the thicker ones, offset by the charge to customers that he is obligated to include.
Montreal announced it would become the largest municipality in Canada to ban thin plastic bags in 2016. It took nearly two years to enforce the ban to give store owners the time to deplete their stock of thin bags the city says take years to degrade in landfills and float into waterways. Recycling rates for plastic bags are poor, the city says. Thicker plastic bags are still allowed on the reasoning that they can be reused up to 150 times. The city has intimated it could one day adopt a total ban of plastic bags.
Environmental groups applauded, but had their reservations about how often the thicker bags will be reused. Some grocery stores have reported customers are using just as many of the thicker bags as they did the thin ones.
“The intention is good, to avoid the use of thin bags and encourage the use of more robust bags that people will bring with them,” said Simon Octeau, assistant director of environmental association the Regroupement des éco-quartiers. “But we doubt that people will reuse the thicker bags as much as is predicted. It’s a change of mentality and behaviour that will have to occur.”
Charging more than 10 to 15 cents per bag and thus adopting the “user pays” principle that has proven effective in other areas would help change behaviour, Octeau said.
Marc Robitaille of the Canadian Plastics Industry Association said studies have shown that 77 per cent of plastic bags are reused, primarily as garbage bags and the rest are recycled.
“Despite all of that, the city, for marketing reasons, has chosen to ban plastic bags,” he said. “It’s all for show and has nothing to do with science.”
While litter from plastics is an issue in places like Southeast Asia where many communities that lack waste resources “use the ocean as their landfill,” plastics littering the environment is almost unheard of in Canada, Robitaille said.
To mark World Environment Day Tuesday, United Nations secretary-general Antonio Guterres said “we all have a role to play in protecting our only home . ... Our world is swamped by harmful plastic waste. From remote islands to the Arctic, nowhere is untouched. If present trends continue, by 2050 our oceans will have more plastic than fish.”
It’s a change of mentality and behaviour that will have to occur.