Plastic bag ban part of the times

Toronto Mayor Rob Ford calls it the dumbest thing his city council has ever done. Others, particularly environmentalists, hail it as the best thing their council has done in a long time It is the sudden ban on all plastic bags used by retailers. The ban caught everybody by surprise. Toronto City Council was debating a five-cent a bag levy on the use of plastic bags by retailers when the sudden ban came about. The mayor had insisted on a vote to kill the new levy in his bid to reduce taxes, paperwork and cut costs. The move backfired when a member of his executive council (cabinet) introduced a back-of-the-napkin motion to eliminate use of plastic bags by retailers in January. The motion passed 27-17 and made Toronto the first big city in Canada to end use of plastic bags by retailers. The ban shocked retailers, consumers and environmentalists alike. Retailers were upset that they had no input, no time to ensure they are not caught with a big stock of unusable bags. Consumers are of two minds. Those who have no issues with plastic bag use are inconvenienced and a little upset. The environmentallyconcerned consumers are happy at the ban. Of course environmentalist supporters are singing praises of the ban. The ban will have an immediate impact on prices when it takes effect next year. Plastic bags cost about two cents each. Paper bags cost 20 cents each, according to some retailers asked about the issue. Guess who will pay for the higher costs? And the reusable cloth bags, being touted as the replacement for plastic bags, are expensive relative to plastic and paper bags. The arguments against plastics have begun. What will pet owners use to scoop pet poop? One owner in a banned-bag town uses freezer bags, saying they are sturdier than the ‘free’ bags from retailers. Opposition to cloth bags comes from surveys that show about 40 per cent of them contain harmful bacteria because they are never washed and sanitized adequately. The plastic bag levy Toronto had planned is part of a movement to link the environmental cost of producing products to their price. It is, in effect, a carbon tax by another name. Small as it is, the levy tells us we have to pay our share of the cost of pollution. We pay the same sort of levy on pop bottles, cans and milk bottles without complaining. The trend is there. The big carbon tax levy on production and/or use of oil and gas is the one that will make a real difference to polluters, consumers and the environment. That’s what the federal government and the opposition are sparring about. The arguments are basic: lost jobs and profits or a cleaner environment. Meanwhile the smaller but important plastic bag ban makes headlines. Plastic bags are a nuisance on the landscape. Any birdwatcher or wildlife observer has stories of viewings that turned out to be plastic bags. In a more serious vein, the developing country of Bangladesh banned plastic bags because they blocked storm drains and caused severe flooding. Canada has the first jurisdiction in the world to ban plastics bags — Leaf Rapids, Man. in 2005. The ban will no doubt come before Moose Jaw City Council one day. The municipal environmental advisory committee has already discussed the issue.

Ron Walter can be reached at ronjoy@sasktel.net