The City of Salmon Arm is proceeding with work on a proposed ban of single-use plastic shopping bags.

At Monday鈥檚 council meeting, council voted unanimously in support of a resolution by Mayor Alan Harrison to direct city staff to draft a bylaw for the ban, to be included in a report with a recommended stakeholder engagement process and communication plan. Implementation of the bylaw would coincide with the start of organic curbside pick-up on July 1, 2019.

Harrison spoke to each of the 鈥渨hereas鈥� points behind the resolution, the first noting the per capita rate of single-use plastic shopping bags in Canada is estimated to be 200 per year.

鈥淪o I thought, well, even if the people of Salmon Arm use 100 per year, that would mean we in Salmon Arm go through 1.7 million single-use plastic bags per year. It鈥檚 probably more, but that would be a conservative number,鈥� said Harrison.

The mayor鈥檚 second point is that many of these bags wind up in the landfill.

鈥淚鈥檓 guilty of that because we use our single use plastic bags in our garbage鈥� and then I put those, we put those in a garbage bag, which goes to the garbage dump, which is not very environmentally friendly,鈥� said Harrison. 鈥淲e also know many of those single-use plastic bags end up in the wilderness, in water and places that we don鈥檛 want them.鈥�

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Next, Harrison said there are alternatives to using single-use plastic bags, and that cities across North America have passed regulations prohibiting single-use bags.

Harrison emphasized the importance of communication, with both retailers and the public.

鈥淩etailers have spoken to me already 鈥� a number of them and they are not against this idea,鈥� said Harrison. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e also thinking of the environment, and many of our retailers already charge for single-use plastic bags and are providing alternatives.

鈥淪o that stakeholder engagement is very important. And of course a communication plan to not just retailers but to customers like us is important.鈥�

Regarding the implementation date, Harrison explained that with the curbside pick-up or organics, residents would receive special bins that should eliminate the need for plastic bags.

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鈥淣ow the reason you won鈥檛 have to use single-use plastic bags in the garbage in your house is nothing wet will go in that garbage can because all of your compost materials will go in a container,鈥� said Harrison. 鈥淭hose single-use plastic bags will not be needed for that anymore and one of my worries is, if we don鈥檛 have a bylaw like this鈥�, they鈥檙e going to end up everywhere else and I don鈥檛 want that to happen. Also, it鈥檚 not necessary, so if we can do our part 鈥� each person do our part and curb the use of 1.7 million plastic bags in Salmon Arm, then I think we鈥檝e done something and it鈥檚 possible.鈥�

Responding to Coun. Kevin Flynn鈥檚 concern that the city might not be able to undertake proper stakeholder consultation by July 1, Harrison suggested Salmon Arm emulate the City of Victoria which, after implementing its ban on single-use plastic bags, chose not to enforce the bylaw for six months.

He said this gave the public time to get used to it and retailers time to use up their bag inventory and find workable alternatives.

鈥淲hile the time line sounds ambitious for July 1, I think it鈥檚 important we pass the bylaw by that time with the understanding that the first six months following it is going to be an education for everyone,鈥� said Harrison. 鈥淚 suspect two years from now, we鈥檙e going to be living without plastic bags and we won鈥檛 even remember why that happened.鈥�

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