City looking to ban plastic bags
Using plastic bags to carry your purchases out of the store appears to be on its way to becoming a thing of the past in Prince George.
City council voted unanimously on Monday night to direct staff to draft a report on how best to “regulate” single-use plastic bags, but in an interview Tuesday, Coun. Murry Krause, the motion’s main proponent, confirmed the intent is to impose a ban.
“It’s a bit of a national movement for local governments to be pushing for that just because of what’s happening – the litter around town, responding to the issue of plastics in our waterways and all of the plastics that are ending up our landfills.”
A similar attempt by Victoria council ran into a headwind this month when the B.C. Court of Appeal overturned that city’s bylaw in response to an appeal by the Canadian Plastic Bag Association, which represents manufacturers and distributors of plastic shopping bags.
The court found the bylaw’s primary purpose was to protect the natural environment rather than to regulate business. As such, the city should have sought provincial approval for the bylaw – something it did not do.
In that light, Krause said he wanted to make sure Prince George city council had its ducks in a row before proceeding.
“I really wanted to make sure that if we were going to put the effort into it and proceed with this, that we had a chance of success,” he said.
Both the provincial and federal governments have moved towards bans on single-use plastics but neither level has made a full commitment, in Krause’s opinion.
“We’ve got to push to have this agenda moved forward,” he said.
“I think if we are just complacent, and just wait, it might not happen.”
Noting the amount of Canadian garbage that has been shipped overseas, Krause questioned the extent to which plastic bags are being recycled and suggested cloth bags and paper bags as alternatives.
Krause agreed that a ban may not go over well in some circles.
“Change never happens easily, (but) as a society, we have to start moving forward on some of these issues and around the world people are starting to be concerned about the amount of plastic that we’re producing, especially single-use plastics,” he said.
Even with the ban, Krause said plenty of plastic will still be produced.
“All you need to look around you,” he said.
Meanwhile, the province is seeking feedback on how best to ban, reduce and recycle plastics and is encouraging B.C. residents to fill out an online survey.
It plans to consult in four areas:
• Bans on single-use packaging: determining which types of plastic packaging to phase out altogether, as well as any necessary exemptions.
• Requiring producers to take responsibility for more plastic products, ensuring more singleuse items such as sandwich bags, straws and cutlery get recycled to reduce single-use plastics in landfills and waterways.
• Expanding the deposit-refund system to cover all beverage containers – including milk and milk-substitutes – with a 10-cent refundable deposit.
• Supporting ways to prevent plastic waste in the first place and making sure recycled plastic is reused effectively.
The federal government has also announced it is planning a national ban on single-use plastic bags, but that’s not expected to happen until 2021.
— with files from Bill Cleverly, Victoria Times-Colonist