File Photo (Image Credit: Cariboo Regional District)

By Doug Collins

One Man's Opinion

COLLINS: Government needs to be tough on plastics

Feb 3, 2023 | 5:29 AM

WE HAVE BEEN SO AFRAID to tackle climate change issues we’ve let things get to a crisis stage. One of the worst examples involves our use of plastics.

Decades ago, we thought plastics were the answer to everything. The ability to use plastics for just about everything spurred us on. Cheaper than metal, able to be molded to just about any shape. We’ll use it for cutlery, straws, you name it. Thin bags for groceries, a film for single-use cups to make them strong. More profit for business.

And when we’re done, we’ll just stuff them in the landfill.

When we finally realized what we were doing, it was almost too late. And no one wanted to lead the charge against what was now becoming a huge source of pollution. Landfills were being inundated, so we started to think differently.

We started to try to make the plastics biodegradable, but haven’t progressed very far.

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We have been working to try and ban single-use plastics, but instead of getting tough, we have let business call the shots. Now, there are so many deadlines in place no one knows which rules to follow.

Vancouver has 82-million single-use cups floating around every single year. The city charged businesses a 25-cent fee per cup but it hasn’t worked. Fees weren’t getting collected, the cups weren’t being collected. But instead of really cracking down, Vancouver council is virtually cancelling fees. They are covering up the problem.

So what will happen to efforts to get rid of single-use plastic bags? Likely the same thing, and our ecosystems will continue to be destroyed.

Because governments run away from the problem, the problem won’t go away. Our leaders, unfortunately, don’t lead. They prefer to wait until we can’t fix the problem and leave the problem for some future generation to deal with. I guess that’s one way of dealing with the issue. The old “ostrich with its head in the sand” solution. Unfortunately, he won’t get his head very far into the sand before he suffocates on all the plastics and other garbage some previous generation has left for him to deal with.

Time to see the danger and do something about it. But it will require strong leadership and there isn’t much of that happening out there.

I’m Doug Collins and that’s One Man’s Opinion.

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