It is currently estimated that residents of Prince George use 14.8 million single-use plastic checkout bags annually.
This statistic comes from a report prepared for city council with information regarding the potential impacts of regulating the business use of plastic checkout bags in the city.
The report comes after a July 29 meeting where Coun. Murry Krause requested council direct administration to prepare a report that looks at what a single-use plastic checkout bag ban would look like in Prince George.
Concerns regarding plastic pollution were also raised by residents during the City of Prince George Climate Change Mitigation Plan Public Participation sessions over the summer of 2019.
Plastic bags can be dropped off at local Recycle BC depots, but are not picked up through the curbside recycling program.
The research was prepared by Adam Holmes, the city’s director of engineering, and looks at three options for the city to consider which include: one - imposing a voluntary ban on carry-out plastic bags, two - drafting a bylaw regulating single-use checkout bags, or three - doing nothing.
However, the Government of Canada announced on June 10 it would be taking steps to reduce plastic waste which includes a ban on single-use plastics like plastic bags, straws, cutlery, plates and stir sticks, as early as 2021.
The B.C. government is also currently reviewing public feedback on regulating plastic waste as part of the CleanBC Plastics Action Plan.
This means the regulation of single-use plastics in the country is on the horizon but is not yet set in stone.
The provincial public consultation period was triggered as a result of the overturn of the City of Victoria’s Checkout Bag Regulation Bylaw by the BC Court of Appeals in July 2019, in response to the Canadian Plastic Bag Association (CPBA) challenging the municipality’s authority to regulate single-use checkout bags.
As it is anticipated that further direction will be given on local government jurisdiction in regulating plastic waste in late 2019, the report recommends that the city wait and prepare another report to council once those decisions are made to determine next steps.
Mayor and council will discuss this report at Wednesday's (Oct. 23) city council meeting.
You can review the meeting’s full agenda for more information.
