BARRHEAD - It seems whether or not the Town of Barrhead will enact a ban of single-use plastics via bylaw will be left largely in the hands of the business community, more specifically the Barrhead and District Chamber of Commerce.
That is what councillors decided during their March 10 meeting — council had first considered enacting the potential bylaw Feb. 12 when Coun. Don Smith added it to the agenda.
“I am wondering if there is an appetite for this council to create a policy that would see the entire community delete single-use plastics at the same time, rather than have businesses do it piecemeal on their own,” he said.
Smith added that any potential bylaw would only be done in consultation with the business community.
Prime minister Justin Trudeau announced in June the government’s plan to ban single-use plastics by 2021 at the earliest.
The list of banned items has not been determined, but it will be based on government scientific research following the model chosen by the European Union (EU). In March, the EU voted to ban plastic items for which market alternatives exist.
As part of the discussion, councillors instructed the administration to research what other communities have done in terms of banning plastics as well as present possible policy options at a future council meeting.
Chief administrative officer Edward LeBlanc said his research included a media search, specifically a Globe and Mail article as well as consulting with the Alberta Urban Municipalities Association (AUMA).
The newspaper article published in June 2019 stated that “the low-density polyethylene (LDPE) found in grocery bags is durable enough to last for a thousand years before breaking down but flimsy and light enough to end up in the stomachs of marine life, birds and, in microplastic form, human diets too.”
The article goes on to mention that not all recycling programs accept LDPE and those that do often incinerate them.
The AUMA noted that three municipalities (Regional Municipality of Wood Buffalo, the City of Wetaskiwin and the Town of Devon) instituted a single-use plastic bag ban.
“It was interesting that all three of the municipalities, pardon the pun, had a similar grocery list of exceptions,” LeBlanc said.
Exemptions include plastic retail bags or packaging used to carry fruits, vegetables, meat, fish, bakery items, bulk food or hardware items and clothes that have been through a dry-cleaning service. The sale of prepackaged single-use bags such as recycling or garbage bags and prepackaged items from distributors are also exempt.
Smith said he still believed it was something worth pursuing and asked Coun. Ty Assaf what the chamber’s view was.
“The response I received [Feb. 20 chamber meeting] from the businesses was very positive. They like the idea that we are thinking ahead rather than reacting to something,” Assaf answered.
However, he said the conversations he has had with constituents has been mixed.
“I use them for my trash, what are we supposed to do with them now? That’s what they are asking,” Assaf said. “I think the key is to remind people that we would be prohibiting the distribution of [single-use] plastic bags, not their use. If they get them from somewhere else, we are not saying you can’t use them.”
Smith was pleased to hear the reaction of businesses, but he specifically was concerned about the reaction of the two largest distributors of single-use plastic bags, Pembina West Co-op and Freson Bros.
“They are the ones that have to be at the table and onboard if we are going to move forward with a bylaw,” he said.
Assaf agreed but noted all businesses will be impacted by a potential single-use plastic ban, noting his experience in the restaurant industry, noting bags and other containers containing plastic are used for take-out orders.
“We need to bring them onboard, so they can find other alternatives,” he said.
Assaf added both Freson Bros. and Pembina West Co-op are already making strides to reduce the amount of plastic bags they use, noting the Co-op food store asks shoppers if they would like a paper bag.
“I have also seen at both stores fabric bags for packaging your fruit,” he said.
Smith, who works at Pembina West Co-op, interjected the big players such as Federated Co-op and Sobeys are making progress in reducing the amount of single-use plastics they use.
“I still think, it would be better that we do this as a community rather than have a few players singled out,” he said. “It wouldn’t be a bad idea if our representative [Coun. Assaf] on the chamber brings it up at the next meeting to find out if there is an appetite to move forward with some sort of plan for the community or have each business look after it on their own.”
Assaf said he would bring the subject forward for discussion at the March 19 Barrhead and District Chamber of Commerce meeting.
Other jurisdictions that have enacted single-use plastic bans include the province of Prince Edward Island, which implemented a plastic shopping bag ban effective July 1, 2019.
Newfoundland and Labrador and Nova Scotia are following PEI’s lead with a plastic shopping bag ban that comes into effect on July 1, while Nova Scotia businesses will give retailers a year to phase out plastic bags starting from Oct. 30, 2019. The Retail Council of Canada states that at least 48 communities have also instituted some sort of plastic shopping bag ban.
Several businesses have also instituted a version of a single-use plastic ban. Some of the more notable examples include Sobey’s that on Jan. 31 removed single-use plastic bags from all 255 Sobey’s stores across Canada — the company claims the move will take 225 million plastic grocery bags out of circulation yearly.
