The City of Edmonton is considering banning businesses from offering customers single-use plastic items like shopping bags and foam cups.
The bylaw would reduce the number of single-use items used and discarded in Edmonton and begin to “shift the habits of Edmontonians, visitors, businesses and other organizations to make reusable alternatives their default choice,” a council report reads.
It would also “reduce waste and litter, increase recycling and responsible waste management, and encourage the use of reusable alternatives.”
According to the council report, Edmontonians discard an estimated 450 million single-use items annually, including shopping bags, takeout containers, cups, utensils and straws.
“The majority end up being discarded in the garbage system, while others end up littering streets, parks and other open spaces such as the River Valley,” the report reads.
The bylaw would mandate a mandatory minimum fee for new paper shopping bags and new reusable shopping bags. Customers must request utensils for single-use accessories made of any material — restaurants can’t just hand them out.
Restaurants must also serve dine-in drink orders in reusable cups and develop a policy to permit customers to bring their own reusable drink cups, the bylaw stipulates. Plastic shopping bags and styrofoam serviceware would be banned under the bylaw.
A 2011 research paper produced by the Northern Ireland Assembly found that it “takes more than four times as much energy to manufacture a paper bag as it does to manufacture a plastic bag.”
The city said complaints of non-compliance would result in outreach and education, followed by warnings.
“Enforcement will be applied in cases of deliberate and ongoing non-compliance.”
City council would give Edmonton businesses nine months to prepare between bylaw approval and the date it takes effect. The city has scheduled July 1, 2023 for the bylaw to take effect.
“The Single-use Item Reduction Bylaw is enforceable, however the City will use an education-first and escalating enforcement approach,” the report reads. “A variety of communication and outreach tactics will be used to raise awareness of the bylaw.
The bylaw’s first reading was given by Edmonton City Council on July 4.
The proposed Bylaw 20117 is a Charter Bylaw and will head to second and third readings after the public hearing has been held.
The Trudeau government has also placed a ban on single-use plastic items like straws, cutlery and takeout containers. However, unlike the federal measure which targets the sale and import of single-use plastics, Edmonton’s bylaw goes directly after businesses.
Earlier this month, more than two dozen plastic makers who’ve united under the banner of the Responsible Plastic Use Coalition asked the Federal Court to put an end to Ottawa’s impending ban. The $29-billion industry is already suing the government for listing plastic as toxic under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act.
Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault said he’s confident the government’s regulations will be upheld.
Guilbeault’s office has suggested Canadians use alternatives like wooden cutlery and paper straws.
A March 2021 study from the University of Florida published in ScienceDirect found that paper straws are linked to cancer, thyroid disease, hampered immune function, early puberty and reduced penis size.
