Close X
Monday, November 25, 2024
ADVT 
National

Victoria Ban On Single-Use Plastic Shopping Bags To Begin In July

The Canadian Press, 18 Dec, 2017 11:36 AM
    Victoria is the latest Canadian city to move ahead with a ban on single-use plastic shopping bags.
     
    Councillors have given third reading to a bylaw that would fine businesses $100 if they sold or provided plastic bags.
     
    Adoption of the bylaw is expected in early January and, if approved, it's to effect in July, with enforcement beginning in 2019.
     
    Businesses would be required to ask customers if they need a bag, and charge 15 cents for a paper bag, or $2 for a reusable one.
     
    Bags used for packing bulk foods, dry cleaning or prescriptions would still be provided.
     
    The Vancouver Island city of Nanaimo voted earlier this month to stop using plastic bags, but delayed further action while it determines if it has the authority to impose a ban.
     
    Montreal is banning single-use plastic bags on Jan.1, and a website using content from the Canadian Plastics Industry Association says three communities in Quebec, two in Manitoba and one in Alberta already prohibit their use.
     
    B.C.-based Greener Footprint Society, which focuses on waste reduction in Canada, says Canadians use between nine billion and 15 billion plastic bags every year, enough to circle the Earth more than 55 times.
     
    Fraser Work, Victoria's engineering and public works director, says the bag ban in the B.C. capital has broad support.
     
    "There's a lot of people in the city that are really excited about a move to rid ourselves of the millions of plastic bags that are going into the community and the hundreds of thousands of which are ending up in the landfill," he says.
     
    Victoria Coun. Jeremy Loveday says there are better options than single-use plastic.
     
    "We would be really encouraging the reusable bags that can handle up to 100 uses or more," says Loveday.
     
    Vancouver has not banned plastic bags, but as part of its 2040 Zero Waste Goal, it is drafting a strategy aimed at reducing or ending the use of single-use bags, coffee cups and takeout containers.
     
    A final report on the zero waste strategy is due before council in 2018.

    MORE National ARTICLES

    S&P Bond Rating Agency Hands B.C. Highest Mark, Confirming Healthy Economy

    S&P Bond Rating Agency Hands B.C. Highest Mark, Confirming Healthy Economy
    VICTORIA — British Columbia's finance minister is pointing to what she says is another confirmation of the province's healthy economy.

    S&P Bond Rating Agency Hands B.C. Highest Mark, Confirming Healthy Economy

    Homeowner Arrives Home, Finds Man Drunk And Asleep On Bathroom Floor

    Homeowner Arrives Home, Finds Man Drunk And Asleep On Bathroom Floor
    SIMCOE, Ont. — Police are reminding people to be vigilant about locking their doors after a homeowner in Simcoe, Ont., came home to discover a drunken stranger.

    Homeowner Arrives Home, Finds Man Drunk And Asleep On Bathroom Floor

    Toronto Drug Squad Officer Dies Of Fentanyl Overdose, Police Say

    Toronto Drug Squad Officer Dies Of Fentanyl Overdose, Police Say
    Toronto police say an officer in the force's drug squad died of a fentanyl overdose earlier this year, with the amount of the opioid found in his system being too large to have been caused by mere contact with the drug.

    Toronto Drug Squad Officer Dies Of Fentanyl Overdose, Police Say

    Texas Man Targeted 12-Year-Old Ontario Girl Using A Messaging App: Police

    Texas Man Targeted 12-Year-Old Ontario Girl Using A Messaging App: Police
    WINDSOR, Ont. — A 25-year-old man in Texas has been arrested after a 12-year-old Ontario girl was allegedly encouraged to send explicit photos of herself to him.

    Texas Man Targeted 12-Year-Old Ontario Girl Using A Messaging App: Police

    Dead Boy's Father Posts Facebook Response After Appeal Court Upholds Conviction

    A father whose conviction was upheld for failing to provide the necessaries of life to his son has posted a Facebook response critical of the judges and prosecutors on the case along with the entire justice system.

    Dead Boy's Father Posts Facebook Response After Appeal Court Upholds Conviction

    Winnipeg Woman Dies In Cambodia While On Backpacking Trek Through Asia

    Winnipeg Woman Dies In Cambodia While On Backpacking Trek Through Asia
    WINNIPEG — A Winnipeg woman who loved to travel and was just beginning a teaching career fell sick and died this week while on a year-long backpacking trek through Asia, a long-time friend said Wednesday.

    Winnipeg Woman Dies In Cambodia While On Backpacking Trek Through Asia