After stopping short of banning plastic checkout bags in 2019, it seems the District of Squamish is on the cusp of finally sealing the deal.
On Feb. 1, council voted unanimously in favour of giving three readings to a suite of bylaws that would, for the most part, ban plastic takeaway bags at places like retailers, grocery stores and restaurants, as well as a number of single-use plastics. All seven councillors were present, as Coun. Jenna Stoner has returned from her maternity leave.
This is not the first time the municipality has tried to ban plastic bags. About three years ago, the District considered the idea, but instead opted to enforce fees for the bags to discourage their use.
However, this time around, things are different. Last year, the province created regulations empowering municipalities to ban single-use plastics.
District staff say this applies to plastic checkout bags, plastic straws, plastic takeout utensils and foam takeout serviceware.
Both the province and the federal government have also signalled they will enact their own regulations on banning single-use plastics.
With the backing of both the province and the federal government, what was once a potentially legally risky move is a far more achievable goal for the District.
“Our first swing at this sort of didn’t stick as we were ahead of the other orders of government,” said Coun. Armand Hurford.
“Glad to see they’re catching up and happy to push it as far as we can practically at this point, which is where I feel we are today.”
Much of council expressed similar sentiments, though Coun. Eric Andersen, while also supportive, had a slightly different take.
“Substantial time and effort has been allocated — all good,” said Andersen.
“But I can’t help but make the gentle observation that we may have other priorities and lower hanging fruit to accomplish our goals.”
He gave the example of a building that was destroyed, which he said had a considerable amount of recyclable waste.
“We need to allocate sufficient time, sufficient effort to other priorities in these streams as well,” Andersen said.
Upon adoption of these bylaws — which is expected to happen shortly — there will be a six-month phase-in period. At the end of six months, the bylaw will be enforced, and there will be penalties for businesses that do not comply.
There will be a fine of $150 per infraction.
Under the new rules, a business may only provide paper bags at checkout. The bags must be made of at least 40% recycled content, and a $0.75 charge is applied.
A reusable bag may also be provided, but the fee for this would be $2.75.
Businesses are not allowed to provide single-use straws, unless they are “accessible straws,” which are intended for people with disabilities or medical conditions.
Plastic stir sticks are banned at checkout, and plastic utensils may only be provided if requested by a customer.
The regulations also ban foam takeaway containers, though there are some exceptions, such as prepared food packaged outside of Squamish, or for uncooked food that requires further preparation.
There is also wiggle room in the regulations for customers who would face financial hardships as a result of the rules, as well as customers who have medical conditions or disabilities.
For instance, the bylaw says: “A business may provide or sell plastic bags or paper bags…because of…the customer’s disability or medical reasons; or…financial hardship upon the customer.”
“This bylaw has taken quite a journey since we started working on it very early in our term, and my concern in the very early days was it was too narrow,” said Coun. John French.
“I’m happy with where we’ve landed and the part Squamish has played with other local governments to push higher levels of government to move this issue forward.”
