2049 replies to this topic

[Jackerbie]

Vancouver has passed a plastic bag ban. Also includes single-use plastic utensils and straws. In the most Vancouver twist, bubble-tea straws are temporarily exempted as there is no existing alternative. via https://www.cbc.ca/n...s-ban-1.5376424

 

UBC will also be implementing a single-use cup and plastics ban, starting with cups in January. All retailers contracted by UBC will have to charge customers a minimum 25c for disposable cups. via https://news.ubc.ca/...stic-food-ware/

[Mattjvd]

Vancouver has passed a plastic bag ban. Also includes single-use plastic utensils and straws. In the most Vancouver twist, bubble-tea straws are temporarily exempted as there is no existing alternative. via https://www.cbc.ca/n...s-ban-1.5376424

UBC will also be implementing a single-use cup and plastics ban, starting with cups in January. All retailers contracted by UBC will have to charge customers a minimum 25c for disposable cups. via https://news.ubc.ca/...stic-food-ware/

Didn't Victoria's ban getting struck down establish this is outside municiple powers?

[Cats4Hire]

Didn't Victoria's ban getting struck down establish this is outside municiple powers?

That was due to the reasoning (environmental issues are municipal) not the ban itself. I think there was a reason they could have given listed that would have worked but I can't remember exactly.

[Nparker]

I believe any local bylaw is permissible if it's implemented for reasons of virtue signalling.

[Jackerbie]

Vancouver is an entirely separate beast with it's own set of rules under the Vancouver Charter. They're also amending the Business Licensing bylaw, not adopting a stand-alone bylaw as Victoria did.

[Jackerbie]

That was due to the reasoning (environmental issues are municipal) not the ban itself. I think there was a reason they could have given listed that would have worked but I can't remember exactly.

 

They would have to send it to the Ministry of Environment for approval. That's where Richmond's bag ban bylaw is right now, having passed at Council in July. I don't know if Vancouver has to go through that step, but it sounds like they don't.

[DustMagnet]

Hmm, no buzz on this?

 

B.C.-wide ban nearly in the bag for single-use plastic

https://www.timescol...stic-1.24054946

 

 

A provincial discussion paper noted that a ban on single-use plastic bags comes with consequences, mainly that it requires up to four times as much energy to manufacture a biodegradable paper bag, and produces two times the greenhouse gas emissions as plastics.

[Nparker]

Virtue signaling trumps logic every time.

[Mike K.]

It’s a running joke now at most grocery stores. The paper bags they’re providing are so weak that they rip almost every time.

This even happened today! I picked up a few things at Save-Ons and the bag ripped as soon as I lifted it. The cashier handed me a second paper bag to envelope the first and that did the job.

[Bernard]

Paper bags were always historically double bagged because they are weak as a single bag.   This should be the default at all grocery stores when offering paper bags

[Mike K.]

I seem to recall quite some time ago that that was indeed the case!

 

Tthen bags were offered with a waxy interior that made them much stronger, and it's those bags that are now out and the paper-only paper bags are now in, ripping like nobody's business.

[sebberry]

Hmm, as much as I don't like the paper bags - they frequently tip over in the trunk of the car, they're a bit of a pain to carry, I end up making more frequent trips to the grocery store, etc... I can't say I have them rip open on me.  I usually grab the top of it, tip it forward and immediately cradle it from underneath.  

 

I noticed a note up at Home Depot on the window about the pending Saanich bag ban, next to their no fewer than 4 'no pets' signs.  

 

Ban this, ban that...   Sheesh. Enough already.  

[shoeflack]

I dunno...I've had far more plastic bags rip open than paper in my experience. Maybe I've just been lucky with paper and unlucky with plastic. I've mainly been using a Red Barn re-usable for the last 2+ years but it finally kicked the can the other day while walking into my place...handles finally gave way. Moral of the story...they all rip.

 

Never had a banana box tear open carrying my 50 lbs worth of Costco products though!

[Mike K.]

+1 on the Costco boxes. Those are no nonsense, like the staff and the gas prices.

[Bernard]

I am slowly getting used to bringing my own bags.   

 

I have been looking at my plastic waste and it is mostly single use plastics but almost all of that plastic is manufacturer packaging and containers.  Milk jugs, yogurt containers, bagged fruit, etc....   If the government is serious about the plastic waste, require manufacturers to collect up all their packaging.   Germany does this and there is no reason BC could not do this as well. 

[sebberry]

I have yet to buy a reusable bag.

[gstc84]

I have about 15 - you can have a couple of mine.

 

This forum is the only place I've ever heard people complain about the bag ban. I always had 3-4 reusable bags back when I was in university, mostly for shopping at Superstore. Everyone I know has a stash of them. It's not that hard. Now a couple decades later, I just always grab a super compact one or two when I leave the house and am always happy I have it. If I forget, I shell out the nickel or quarter (or 50 cents if it's Shoppers Drug Mart... *eyeroll*) for a paper bag, let the cat play in it for a while when I get home, then use it to bring my recycling down. Never had a paper bag tear on me with groceries, though the handles on the ones at Market on Yates break frequently.

 

When I was home in Ontario over the holidays, my brother, his wife, my partner and I all laughed one night about how dirty we felt getting our groceries in plastic bags (without even being asked!) at the grocery store that day because we had forgotten plastic bags were even a thing.

[Sparky]

Funny story. We went to a grocery store in Zihuatanejo Mexico over the holidays and low and behold they don’t offer bags of any type for any price. If you didn’t bring a bag you are just plain out of luck. We went by taxi and the transfer of these goods (we had a crap load) in and out of the taxi and then into the condo was not going to be pretty.

Then, as luck would have it, a grocery stock person walked by packing some cardboard boxes. So armed with our Costco skills, we relieved the chap of his boxes, packed them up, and carried on about our way.

Really....no bags ..... not even for gringos.....but the town and the beaches were spotless.

[Matt R.]

I stopped in to buy a 12 pack of canned pop and a bag of buns two nights ago, didn’t need any bags but I always keep one or two in my car. Brought them in, bagged up my stuff and saved a dime. #winning

I used to bag groceries at a local Food Mart when I was in jr. high, got pretty good at it. Used to have the same customers come to my till on 10% tuesdays. I remember one lady had doubled up paper bags that were so well used they felt like fabric. Those things lasted all of grade 10, maybe more.

Good times.

Matt.

[Mike K.]

Slow loader and you’d always figure out a way to put the tomatoes on the bottom, but man were your jokes good!