How Edmonton could ban plastic bags, straws and styrofoam by 2023
The City of Edmonton is getting closer to banning several single-use items and imposing fees for other commonly-trashed stuff, and a new city document has revealed details about how it might work.
Under the proposed rules, plastic shopping bags would be banned along with plastic straws and styrofoam cups and containers.
Customers would also have to pay a minimum fee of 25 cents for disposable cups, a 15 cent minimum fee on paper bags, and a $1 fee on reusable bags.
"This means fewer single-use items will be discarded as litter or thrown in the garbage, moving us closer to our goal of diverting 90 per cent of waste from the landfill," the report said.
In an effort to slash the amount of trash in Edmonton, city council previously asked administrators to study a new bylaw and how it could align with a similar federal ban announced in 2020.
The "backgrounder" report says an estimated 450 million single-use items (SUI) are thrown away every year in the city, including more than 100 million takeout containers, 119 million utensils and 92 million plastic bags.
"There are environmental, social, and economic impacts from the production, consumption and disposal of SUI, such as greenhouse gas emissions, consumption of natural resources, and water pollution."
The document is part of the city's 25-year Waste Strategy that has a goal of a "zero waste future."
FINAL RECOMMENDATIONS TO COME IN 2022
The proposals in the report are being used in consultations with stakeholders, and the final rules have not been approved.
The plan is still up for debate and the bylaw won't pass until councillors and the public have a chance to consider the details at a public hearing in 2022.
"The City of Edmonton is talking to businesses, event organizers, charitable food service providers, and other organizations about the draft recommendations and how the city can support their transition to using fewer SUI," the document said.
The report suggests "voluntary measures" like businesses only offering utensils, napkins and ketchup packets to customers who request them.
Accommodations would be made for people with disabilities.
Restaurants will also be encouraged to use reusable dishes and accept containers that customers bring in, but that will not be mandatory, and paper or cardboard food containers would still be allowed without a fee.
PLAN COULD GO FURTHER: WASTE FREE EDMONTON
The plan sounds pretty good to Waste Free Edmonton – a local non-profit working to promote consuming less and reusing more – but the group's co-founder said the rules could go further.
"What we would have liked to have seen is for takeout containers to be treated the same as cups, where you can still use single-use items in a transition, but you have to pay for them," Sean Stepchuk said.
"By having to pay, it creates a disincentive to do that, and it makes it so an individual has to have a second thought."
He believes that would encourage people to bring their own containers, which is ultimately the best option for the planet.
Stepchuk wants the plan implemented on an "urgent basis" and said the planet has a plastic crisis, which is connected to a climate change crisis.
"As long as we see this implemented in 2022, I'll be happy. Could it have been sooner? Yes. But, I think doing this now will also provide leadership for other municipalities," Stepchuk said.
The report found that 42 per cent of all large litter collected in 2019 consisted of single-use items.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
Indian envoy warns of 'big red line,' days after charges laid in Nijjar case
India's envoy to Canada insists relations between the two countries are positive overall, despite what he describes as 'a lot of noise.'
Stormy Daniels describes meeting Trump during occasionally graphic testimony in hush money trial
With Donald Trump sitting just feet away, Stormy Daniels testified Tuesday at the former president's hush money trial about a sexual encounter the porn actor says they had in 2006 that resulted in her being paid to keep silent during the presidential race 10 years later.
U.S. paused bomb shipment to Israel to signal concerns over Rafah invasion, official says
The U.S. paused a shipment of bombs to Israel last week over concerns that Israel was approaching a decision on launching a full-scale assault on the southern Gaza city of Rafah against the wishes of the U.S.
Former homicide detective explains how police will investigate shooting outside Drake's Bridle Path mansion
Footage from dozens of security cameras in the area of Drake’s Bridle Path mansion could be the key to identifying the suspect responsible for shooting and seriously injuring a security guard outside the rapper’s sprawling home early Tuesday morning, a former Toronto homicide detective says.
Northern Ont. woman makes 'eggstraordinary' find
A chicken farmer near Mattawa made an 'eggstraordinary' find Friday morning when she discovered one of her hens laid an egg close to three times the size of an average large chicken egg.
Susan Buckner, who played spirited cheerleader Patty Simcox in 'Grease,' dead at 72
Susan Buckner, best known for playing peppy Rydell High School cheerleader Patty Simcox in the 1978 classic movie musical 'Grease,' has died. She was 72.
Jeremy Skibicki has 'uphill battle' to prove he's not criminally responsible in Winnipeg killings: legal analysts
Accused killer Jeremy Skibicki could have a challenging time convincing a judge that he is not criminally responsible for the deaths of four Indigenous women, a legal analyst says.
Bye-bye bag fee: Calgary repeals single-use bylaw
A Calgary bylaw requiring businesses to charge a minimum bag fee and only provide single-use items when requested has officially been tossed.
Alcohol believed to be a factor in boating incident after 2 men die: N.S. RCMP
Two Nova Scotia men are dead after a boat they were travelling in sank in the Annapolis River in Granville Centre, N.S., on Monday.