A councillor wants Edmonton to join other Canadian cities in the fight against plastic pollution.
Montreal became the first major Canadian city to ban plastic bags to start the year. Victoria has a similar bylaw, which will start in July. Vancouver recently voted to ban straws and plastic cups.
Ward 8 Councillor Ben Henderson will introduce a motion to find out how other municipalities have reduced and/or eliminated single-use plastics at next week’s utility committee meeting.
“I’d like to know how effective they’ve been, what the plus and minuses are, and various things we can do to see if we can up our game on this,” Henderson said. “It’s really about trying to reduce those things that we use for 10 minutes and then stay in the environment for another thousand years.”
Multiple groups, including Waste Free Edmonton, filled several bags with plastics picked up Dawson Park on Sunday.
“Even in just an hour and a half, we got a considerable amount of garbage,” Melissa Gorrie, with Waste Free Edmonton, told CTV News.
Gorrie is concerned about the impact single-use plastics will have on the environment and wildlife, pointing to a recent example of a dead whale which swallowed dozens of plastic bags.
“There are other species on this planet that are just devastated by our addiction to single-use plastics,” Gorrie said. “And we need to be aware of that every time we are grabbing a disposable cup and throwing it out.”
With files from Angela Jung
