Regina city council passes motion to ban use of plastic bags

The future of Regina will not include plastic bags.

City council voted unanimously to ban them during its meeting Wednesday, with a bylaw to be presented for approval.

However, it’s not going to take effect until after the COVID-19 pandemic is over.

“It will be at least a year and part of that is for the transition away from plastic,” Mayor Michael Fougere said during the Greg Morgan Morning Show this week.

“(We need to) educate the public and let them know why we did this, what it means for the environment.”

Eliminating the use of plastic bags has been a year-long crusade by Coun. Bob Hawkins, who in April 2019 first directed city staff to study the environmental impact of single-use plastics and report back on options to reduce them.

That report appeared during the May 19 meeting of the Public Works and Infrastructure Committee, saying single-use plastics make up one per cent of residential waste in Regina. About five per cent of recyclables collected are plastic.

Council has set a target to divert 65 per cent of residential waste and the report notes other actions will get the city closer to that goal.

“Moreover, WPR’s (Waste Plan Regina) planned initiatives, such as the implementation of a residential food and yard waste program and development of reduction strategies for industrial, commercial, institutional, construction and demolition waste streams, will have a broader environmental impact since results will not be confined to reduction or elimination of only one product or type of product,” the report says.

As well, most residential garbage bins are filled with a good amount of organic material.

“Half the residential waste stream is compostable and easily divertible via a curbside food and yard waste program, which is entering its initial pilot phase in Regina,” the report says.

“Similarly, industrial, commercial, industrial, construction and demolition (ICI, C&D) waste account for approximately 70 per cent of total waste entering the Landfill.”

Hawkins’ motion Wednesday pointed out other parts of Canada and the United States have banned plastic bag, including the City of Prince Albert and the Sobeys grocery chain.

A city survey conducted in October also suggested some level of support for the move. Out of 10,538 responses, 82 per cent of respondents said it was “important” or “very important” to reduce single-use plastics.

Seventy-seven per cent of respondents said it was “important” or “very important” to ban single-use bags at retail checkouts.