The Vancouver City Council voted on the evening of November 28 to ban plastic straws and plastic bags in phases from April next year, becoming the first major city in Canada to adopt such a broad ban.
This move aims to reduce plastic bags and other disposable plastic products, and is part of the trend of reducing plastic pollution in many countries.
Vancouver said that plastic bags and straws each account for 3% of the local coastal garbage each year, and a study commissioned by the Canadian government earlier this year showed that nearly 90% of Canada's plastic products end up in landfills or the natural environment.
Vancouver will ban plastic straws from April 22, 2020. As for plastic bags made of biodegradable materials, they will be banned from January 1, 2021.
After the plastic straws are banned, the company must still be able to provide flexible straws to facilitate the diet of the disabled if requested by the customer. The thicker straws for pearl milk tea have a one-year buffer period to facilitate the industry to find alternatives.
Greg Wilson, director of the Government Relations Department of the Canadian Retail Association of British Columbia, said that the ban on plastic bags is "not good news for our environment or our business."
Wilson told Reuters that people will have to spend money on reusable plastic bags, which are more difficult to disassemble due to their durability. He also said that this policy will increase business costs.
After the ban on plastic bags is implemented, businesses can charge CAD 0.15 (approximately NT$3.43) for the paper bags provided, and then increase to CAD 0.25. Disposable cups and tableware are not banned, but starting from January 2021, each disposable cup will be charged at CAD 0.25.
Canadian Prime Minister Trudeau announced in June that it plans to ban certain disposable plastic products, such as plastic straws, plastic bags and plastic tableware, in early 2021. Montreal has issued a ban on certain types of plastic bags in 2018.
Canadian supermarket chain Sobeys said earlier this year that it would eliminate all plastic bags within six months and become the first supermarket in Canada to ban plastic bags.
