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By Dylana Kneeshaw

PLASTIC REDUCTION

Province expands recycling systems, approves coastal city bans on single-use plastics

Sep 12, 2020 | 2:19 PM

VICTORIA — The B.C Government says a number of changes have been made to limit plastic waste pollution in the province.

In a news conference today (Sept. 12), Minister of Environment and Climate Change Strategy George Heyman says new measures will be taken to reduce the amount of plastic waste and pollution in municipalities.

“Even in the face of current economic downturns, local governments and businesses have told us they remain committed to preventing millions of single-use plastic products from damaging the environment, polluting B.C.’s waters, harming wildlife and increasing costs for taxpayers,” states Heyman.

The Province will clear the way for Richmond, Victoria, Saanich, Tofino, and Ucluelet to implement bylaws banning single-use plastics.

BC’s government is also proposing to draft a new regulation under the Community Charter to allow local governments to ban certain types of plastic products without provincial approval. These would include single-use plastics like shopping bags, plastic straws, and polystyrene foam take-out containers.

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“We will develop a legal framework to allow for provincial bans on single-use items, such as straws, take-out containers, shopping bags and other priority items. As we initiate this work, we will continue to consult to make sure solutions are manageable, take into consideration economic recovery and are phased in practically,” Heyman said. “We will also ensure that specific products continue to be available to people who live with a disability or need them for health reasons. We will align our actions with federal government initiatives if they occur on a reasonable timeframe.”

The move follows more than 35,000 responses to the CleanBC Plastic Action Plan highlighting the desire to move toward province-wide bans on certain products.

The B.C Government will also expand the amount of single-use products that can be recycled through industry-funded residential recycling programs – including plastic cutlery, sandwich bags, stir sticks, and more. The Ministry says it will be looking into expanding recycling programs for larger items such as mattresses, electric vehicle batteries, propane canisters, etc.

Alongside these initiatives, the province has teamed up with Encorp Pacific (Return-It) to implement a minimum 10-cent deposit on all beverage containers. The refund system will also be accepting milk, and milk-alternative containers for the first time.

“The changes to the B.C. Recycling Regulation reinforce B.C.’s leadership in protecting the environment and extended producer responsibility performance in Canada,” said Allen Langdon, president and CEO, Return-It. “These changes provide additional incentives and we encourage all British Columbians to participate by returning their beverage containers for recycling to improve recovery and keep plastics and other beverage containers out of our landfills, oceans and waterways. We commend the B.C. Ministry of Environment for its leadership.”

In addition, the deposit-refund system has changed to allow electronic refunds as part of the new cashless, low-touch system. Refunds can be e-transferred to bank accounts, or donated to a community-based organization.

For more information about today’s announcement, and the CleanBC efforts, click here.