First for Canada: Foam cup, container ban starts Jan. 1 in Vancouver

VANCOUVER —Come New Year’s Day, food and beverages in foam cups and foam take-out containers will be banned from Vancouver’s restaurants and takeout stalls, part of the city’s single-use-item reduction strategy.

The strategy “gets to the heart of our throwaway society,” said Monica Kosmak, the city’s senior project manager. “And it’s one of the first actions in the City of Vancouver’s 2040 strategy, which is to send zero waste to landfills or incinerators by then.”

The city has sent outreach workers to restaurants and takeout venues, and have been told by those still using foam cups and containers they are using up old stock before the ban comes into effect, Kosmak said.

“But many of them are aware and are prepared for the ban.”

A quick survey of 30 food stalls at two big downtown food courts in mid-December revealed just four still using foam.

One diner, eating a Vietnamese lunch that was served in a foam container, said he agreed with the ban. “Of course [the ban] is a good idea,” said the man, who didn’t want to be named. “Any singleuse plastic or styrofoam that is kept out of a landfill is obviously a good thing.”

There are still plenty of plastic utensils being used, but come April 22 there will be a “by request” bylaw for them, meaning customers will have to ask for them instead of automatically having them provided.

Also on April 22, there will be a requirement for businesses to stock and provide bendable plastic straws for people with disabilities, but a ban on all other plastic straws.

As of Jan. 1, 2021, there will be a ban on plastic shopping bags and a 25-cent fee on disposable cups. Clear plastic bowls are not being targeted for now.

“The only bylaw that targets containers for bowls is the foam ban,” Kosmak said. “We’re not banning plastic bowls at this time, what we’re doing is asking [food venues] to choose reusable.

“If they have to use a singleuse item, they can choose something that can be recycled in the Recycle B.C. residential recycling program or the city’s greenbin program for compost.”

That would include plastic and plastic-lined paper for recycling, and fibre-pulp paper, mouldedpulp paper, even pressed leaves.

Vancouver will become one of 100 cities in North America to ban foam, and the first in Canada, Kosmak said.

“Vancouver has the most comprehensive strategy for dealing with a wide range of single-use items in Canada.”