plastic utensils (photo courtesy Ross Lavigne)

By Chantal Wagner

business reaction

Thoughts from locals on federal government’s single-use plastic ban

Oct 8, 2020 | 4:38 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – The federal government has set a date on an election promise to ban single-use plastics.

The aim is to have everything in place by the end of next year.

Six single-use plastics that are not easily recycled and already have more environmentally friendly alternatives will be the first to go.

That includes plastic grocery bags, straws, stir sticks, cutlery, food containers, and six-pack rings for cans and bottles.

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Environment Minister Jonathan Wilkinson says many of the items that are not on that list, like plastic bottles, will be getting new standards to require them to contain a minimum amount of recycled material.

As for local business, owner of Baba Cluck Lorelle Halderman says the move is contradicting at this time because plastic utensils need to be individually wrapped in plastic itself for COVID-19 health measures.

Baba Cluck currently uses some environmentally friendly packaging.

But Halderman says there will be changes to implement for her business and it’s a concern on the cost side of things.

“Currently, it’s going to affect us greatly in the restaurant industry especially nowadays we’re all operating on skinny operating budgets. And with supplies, if that means that they’ll go up because we have to use alternatives and are mandated to do such, then that will be a concern for sure. But we do currently use plastic lids on our to-go cups, cutlery of course, and straws, and some bags.”

Halderman adds she will wait and see what the next year brings and what other plastic alternatives are available.

Long time advocate for wanting to ban plastic bags in the city Uwe Krickhahn is naturally happy about the news.

He has presented to city council four times to ban plastic bags and made the first presentation to city council in 2008.

Krickhahn says he is anti-plastic due to environmental reasons like littering, and also the long term health effects.

He is a strong believer in recycling and has been doing so for more than 40 years.

“One-way shopping bags we use for years and years. And if they’re dirty you throw them in the wash, clean them up, and use them again. They’re good for 10-15 years.”

Canada currently recycles less than 10 percent of the 3-million tonnes of plastic it produces each year.

And has set a goal to have zero plastic waste ending up in landfills by 2030.

(with files from the Canadian Press)