A BC-Wide Ban On Plastic Bags Could Happen In Just A Few Weeks

B.C. is the latest province that wants to tackle plastic waste. Some cities in the province have announced their own rules about single-use plastics, but now there may be a B.C. wide plastic bag ban. We'll know in just a few weeks whether or not the province will decide to ban plastic bags entirely by next year.

"The co-ordinated series of actions will be announced in the coming weeks and will align with efforts of local and regional governments," reads a statement from the B.C. Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy obtained by Narcity on Monday, January 20.

As for what a ban might look like, the government's statement says it might: "include bans on several kinds of single-use packaging, expanding producer responsibility for plastic recycling, stepping up our bottle deposit system, and other appropriate policy or regulatory changes."

The idea was sparked when provincial courts struck down similar, city-specific bans on plastic bags.

While they found that cities (excluding Vancouver) don't have the authority to enforce these bans, they also noticed how many small cities were thinking about getting rid of plastic bags.

"It will take all levels of government working together to make the difference so many Canadians want to see," read the statement.

Vancouver agreed in a statement sent to Narcity. "Solving the challenges with this waste stream is beyond what any individual municipality can do alone," said a rep.

The provincial plastic bag ban follows close behind Vancouver's own single-use plastic ban announcement.

The city pledged to eliminate single-use straws from April 2020. Additionally, a bylaw banning plastic bags will activate come Friday, January 1, 2021, according to the CBC.

Unlike other cities in the province, Vancouver's charter gives them the right to enforce the ban municipally, according to their statement.

Surrey also announced it will follow Vancouver and enact a plastic bag ban on the same day.

B.C. isn't the only province interested in curbing their plastic habits.

For example, Nova Scotia has already banned plastic bags in their province. Companies have also tried to shame Canadians from using plastic, with mixed success.

For all the talk, however, Canada's recycling game is currently lacking and in B.C. alone about 40% of plastic is used once before it's trashed.

Last year, the BC Ministry of the Environment asked for British Columbian's thoughts on the ban. They had a province-wide survey going from Thursday, July 25, 2019 to Monday, September 30, 2019.

They received over 35,000 responses, one of the largest in the government's history.