Plastic Bags and Waste Reduction

Recently, Saanich Council voted unanimously to request that the CRD consider a ban or fee on plastic shopping bags. Council’s resolution is modelled on similar initiatives in Europe, including Ireland and Scotland, where a fee on plastic shopping bags has reduced use by 90 per cent. Even China has banned plastic bags (starting in June) and has also banned production of the plastic film from which they are made.

Millions of plastic bags end up at the Hartland landfill each year. As the petroleum-based product slowly deteriorates, the bags become a major source of leachate and contaminants in soil and groundwater. World-wide, the production of plastic bags accounts for four per cent of the planet’s oil supply.

A ban or tax on plastic bags would encourage consumers to switch to reusable bags, which are far less harmful for the environment and will reduce the tonnage of waste destined for the landfill each year.

Saanich Council is to be commended for this initiative. The District of Saanich has a strong record of environmental leadership, of which this is another example.

My hope is that the CRD will not stop with a ban or tax on plastic shopping bags, but will consider it the first step in a larger waste reduction strategy.

Hartland landfill, the destination for all of the Capital Region’s solid waste, annually receives 140,000 tonnes of waste materials. More than 30 per cent of those are organic and could be composted. In addition to reducing plastic shopping bag use, composting could significantly reduce the amount of material ending up at the landfill.

Oak Bay and View Royal have piloted curbside organic compost collection programs over the past year. Both programs have been highly successful and the pilots were renewed for another year.

When the CRD convenes to consider a ban or tax on plastic shopping bags, it should consider expanding curbside organic compost collection to the entire region.

A regional waste reduction strategy will move us closer to a future free of plastic bags and, perhaps, a future without garbage.