By James Peters

TWO & OUT

PETERS: Plastic bags get a bad rap, but we need better options to deal with them

Jul 12, 2019 | 2:18 PM

WHEN IT COMES TO the plastic bags we get at the grocery store, the term ‘single-use’ may be a misnomer.

Most of the time, it’s really easy to find a second or third use for those bags — anything from lining garbage cans to picking up the little gifts the dog leaves in the backyard.

There are more creative uses for the bags as well.

Here in Kamloops, the Homeless Mat Project takes plastic bags and weaves them into mats for the homeless population.

1000 Ways to Heal

1000 Ways to Heal: Moons

Dec 10, 2024

Question of the Week

Should Mayor Reid Hamer-Jackson apologize or resign after it was found he breached a section of council's code of conduct for allowing false or misleading information to be communicated?

Dec 09, 2024

One Man's Opinion

COLLINS: Donald has it wrong - again

Dec 08, 2024

The problem is, no matter how many times you use them, they still end up in the same place: the landfill.

For a glorious couple of years, the City of Kamloops accepted soft plastics like bags in curbside recycling bins, and the contractor Emterra could recycle them.

That changed when Recycle BC took over, and they were no longer accepted.

When that change happened, it was clear Kamloops residents had an appetite to recycle their plastics. City staff told us too many people were continuing to put soft plastics in the blue lid bins.

The City is now tweaking its own draft bylaw banning single-use plastics, thanks to a court decision striking down the City of Victoria bylaw Kamloops had used as a model.

Bans on single use plastics are certainly the way to go.

According to a 2017 study, less than 10 per cent of the plastics produced since 1950 have been recycled. The majority are still around, mostly in the oceans.

Not only that, but producing more biodegradable material is imperative.

But bans in certain jurisdictions won’t keep plastics from being produced and disposed of.

If we are bound to Recycle BC, then that organization needs to step up and offer more options for plastic bags.

——

Editor’s Note: This opinion piece reflects the views of its author, and does not necessarily represent the views of CFJC Today or the Jim Pattison Broadcast Group.

More Two & Out columns can be found here.