Moncton, Dieppe And Riverview Consider Ban On Single-Use Plastic Bags
MONCTON – Staff at the City of Moncton, City of Dieppe and the Town of Riverview have drafted a by-law to ban single-use plastic bags in the Greater Moncton Area with the help of waste management service provider Eco360, though there’s no timeline for adoption yet.
The proposed by-law has to be presented to all three councils at a public meeting before it can be discussed and adopted, says Meghan Cross, Riverview’s communications coordinator said. Reporters will have access to the by-law when it’s available for a public meeting.
“Really the councils have the final say. So each of the councils will oversee the draft by-law in a public meeting in the coming weeks or months,” she said. “The draft by-law will be included in a [public meeting] agenda that hasn’t been determined yet but we will certainly coordinate it so that the three councils are receiving them around the same time.”
The proposed rule has some exceptions for things like bagging meats at a grocery store, which would protect them for hygienic purposes, among other things, Cross said. It also includes an option for the councils to consider allowing compensation for businesses, she said. The tri-community took examples from other jurisdictions that have moved to adopt such a policy, like PEI.
The by-law came after a tri-community council meeting in 2018 resulted in the creation of a working group, which includes staff from all three municipalities and representatives from Eco360, to research and explore options to reduce the use of single-use plastic bags.
Two surveys were launched in November to determine the habits and opinions of consumers and businesses on the issue. Around 1,700 people and 60 businesses responded.
The surveys found that plastic bag use is still common among residents (65 per cent), but reusable bags are also quite popular. Nearly 80 per cent of respondents said they’d pay a fee for single-use bags, and 95 per cent are greatly or moderately concerned about the environmental impact of plastic bags. Nearly 78 per cent of participants were in favour of a ban on the single-use plastic bag, while the rest are against or undecided.
Most businesses (70 per cent) already offer more environmentally-friendly options, though 53 per cent still offer typical plastic bags and 98 per cent of businesses polled don’t currently charge a fee to customers for a single-use bag.
Cost (58 per cent) is the top reason for businesses not to offer reusable bags, followed by a lack of demand from customers (36 per cent) and store policy and procedures (12 per cent). Still, 91 per cent of businesses are either greatly or moderately concerned about the environmental impact of plastic bags.
Single-use plastic is a difficult material to market and sort, says Gena Alderson, Eco360’s Waste Diversion Coordinator. And they make up the most of the plastics that come through Eco360’s facility.
It’s difficult to find someone who would want to recycle plastic film, and when it does come to Eco360, it sticks with everything because it creates a static charge, she said.
“Just removing it from the other materials takes a lot of time and a lot of effort with a lot of staff dedicated to that. So if there’s less of it in the stream, we would not only not have to deal with that specific material, but we would be able to put more effort into other recyclables,” she said.
The plastic films are stockpiled at Eco360’s facility until there’s a market for it. Otherwise, it would go to the landfill.
“Anything that we cannot market, there’s no one who’s going to take it to recycle it, we have to landfill it, we can’t store things forever. Obviously, we don’t want to do that, we try to do whatever we can to avoid it, but that is kind of the end of the line,” she said. “If the by-law is passed, that would mean significantly less of that single-use plastic bag, plastic film material coming through our facility. For us, that would be a good thing definitely.”
While this is a step forward, Eco360 wants to see a regional or provincial uptake of a ban as it serves all of Southeastern New Brunswick. And they’d also want more commercial buildings to sort their garbage.
“We know it would make a huge difference in Southeast New Brunswick in terms of waste diversion,” Alderson said.
John Wishart, the CEO of the Chamber of Commerce of Greater Moncton, said while most businesses are likely in favour of a ban in Greater Moncton, a provincial approach would be best.
“We would probably prefer a province-wide ban as opposed to individual municipalities deciding how to do this because then it creates a bit of a mix of policies and regulations. So you might have a store in a community that’s allowed to use plastic bags and a neighbouring community where it’s not,” he said.
Wishart also said that more public awareness campaigns on the importance of reducing single-use plastic bags need to take place. And if a ban gets implemented, he hopes there’s will be a transition period.
“Because I mean, some stores, especially chain stores, probably have a vast supply of bags that they have to somehow dispose of. And at the same time, there probably has to be a public awareness campaign. But I think it’s probably something that we will see overtime and probably sooner than later.”