Single-use plastic ban could cause headaches for council, local businesses

Oct 10, 2020 | 3:18 PM

PRINCE GEORGE — Last year, the City of Prince George dabbled with the idea of implementing a single-use plastic ban to follow in the footsteps of plans the City of Victoria were working on. It had been put on hold, however, last week’s announcement by the federal government could reopen the doors for those conversations.

On October 7, a single-use plastic ban for 2021 was announced by the Justin Trudeau government. It will include grocery bags, straws, cutlery, stir sticks, six-pack rings, and takeout containers. That plan was originally part of a campaign promise during the 2019 federal election. It is unclear if it will a policy, legislation, or other, and Murry Krause said that could cause some issues ahead of the ban for municipalities. However, he is confident it will happen one way or another.

“When we brought [the original motion] to council, it was the right thing to do but it was also trying to keep those kinds of things out of our landfill,” the city councilor explained.

Some businesses, meanwhile, have already taken steps to reduce waste via reusable bags or switching from plastic to paper straws. The Mission Thrift Shop in downtown Prince George accepts donations of plastic bags to reuse. A ban on those bags would force the shop to look at other options.

“The National Association has actually been working on making disposable bags that we would have to buy and then sell to customers and then they could reuse them, or bring their own bags,” said Claire Green, who is on the board for the thrift store, before continuing with alternative solutions currently being used. “A lot of customers don’t take a bag and we do use boxes sometimes for dishes and stuff.”

Green added sales have been higher for the shop since the start of COVID-19. But on the conversation of single-use vs reusable bags, it could become a sanitary issue even once we come out the pandemic.