Province seeks input on reducing plastic

Jul 25, 2019 | 1:12 PM

The B.C. government is looking for feedback on its plans to reduce the amount of plastic waste.

“The message from British Columbians is loud and clear — we need to take action to reduce plastic waste, especially single-use items like water bottles and plastic bags that often find their way into our waters, streets and environment,” Minister of Environment and Climate Change Strategy George Heyman said.

“We have all seen the striking images of animals and fish being caught up in everyday plastic waste like grocery bags or beer can loops that ensnare these beautiful creatures and it cannot continue. I look forward to hearing from people about how we can all play a part in reducing plastic pollution and plastics use overall.”

Among the proposals is bans on single-use packaging, and expanding the deposit refund system to include more containers such as for milk products.

“The province is also reviewing new ways to make plastic recycling easier, including a proposed system of electronic refunds for empty bottle returns. This would eliminate the need to sort bottles and provide the option to have refunds processed electronically or donated to community organizations,” Heyman added.

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British Columbians can take part in online survey until Sept. 18, and read the province’s consultation paper.

The B.C. government is proposing action in four connected areas to reduce plastic pollution and use less plastic overall:

Bans on single-use packaging: determining which types of plastic packaging to phase out altogether, as well as any necessary exemptions, such as those for health, safety and accessibility, to keep products available for the people who need them
Dramatically reduce single-use plastics in landfills and waterways: requiring producers to take responsibility for more plastic products, ensuring more single-use items like sandwich bags, straws and cutlery get recycled
Plastic bottle and beverage container returns: expanding the deposit-refund system to cover all beverage containers – including milk and milk-substitutes – with a 10-cent refundable deposit, keeping millions more containers out of landfills and waterways
Reducing plastic waste overall: supporting effective ways to prevent plastic waste in the first place and making sure recycled plastic is reused effectively.

Other facts:

B.C.’s 22 industry-led Extended Producer Responsibility (EPR) programs cover 14 different product categories of consumer products such as packaging, electronics and electrical products, residual solvents, beverage containers, tires and household hazardous wastes.
315,000 tonnes of plastics, such as those in electronics, beverage containers and other packaging are already captured annually in B.C.’s EPR programs.
Data demonstrates that shifting from the current range of five to 20 cents, to a flat rate of 10 cents, would increase the return rate of beverage containers.
The existing program for packaging and paper products was recently expanded to include other soft plastics, including laminated/zippered pouches, crinkly plastics such as bags in cereal boxes and foil-lined potato chip bags, all of which can be taken to almost 200 recycling depots throughout the province.

by Pete McIntyre

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