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Council moves to ban single-use plastic items in Squamish

Gagandeep Ghuman
February 1, 2022 10:28am

District of Squamish Council is moving to ban the sale of single-use plastic items in the community.

On December 14, 2021, the Council directed District staff to amend the bylaw to ban plastic bags, polystyrene foam containers, single-use straws, and plastic straw sticks. Businesses can provide accessible straws and make plastic utensils available by request only. Businesses can provide or sell a recycled paper bag only, but it must contain at least 40% recycled paper content.

The fine for violating these bylaws is $150 per infraction. However, the bylaw includes a six-month adoption period to allow businesses to exhaust their existing supply of single-use items, and source a new supply of items.

In July 2021, the Province released an order allowing municipalities to regulate checkout bags, plastic straws, plastic takeout utensils and foam takeout service ware.

In 2019, the District passed a single-use item bylaw in an effort to reduce single-use checkout bags and plastic straws.

The District’s current bylaw includes prices for checkout bags based on carbon impact, and applies minimum fees to plastic, paper and reusable bag purchases. However, the new bylaw will ban plastic items.

Combined, all the single-use categories represent approximately 5.1% of the waste deposited in the Squamish landfill. Squamish is the first municipality in the SLRD to regulate single-use items.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Nash_Dj says

    February 1, 2022 at 10:48 am

    From one kind of waste and poison to just another, likely will not see the next cycle, but I am sure in 20-30 years more progressive thoughts will replace those as well…
    Meanwhile, the Asian countries pump poison in the air, water and land with their industry at the daily rate the entire western world combined doesn’t make in a month…

  2. Ihor Zalubniak says

    February 1, 2022 at 11:03 am

    What is a “polystyrene” container. Does that include items like packaging for meat products?

  3. T. Carroll says

    February 2, 2022 at 9:29 am

    Well done, Squamish. Good to see you starting to become a climate crisis leader, starting with this ban on single use plastic items which are helping to kill our beautiful Earth. Keep on with preserving our extraordinary Nature in Squamish and its surroundings. Much more must be done, quickly, to reverse our climate crisis, and Squamish can show other communities how to do so, positively.

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