Victoria council to consider disposable cup fee, other measures to reduce single-use items

Victoria city councillors are scheduled to consider new measures to curb the distribution of single-use items - especially plastics - at a meeting Thursday.

A staff report recommends three specific measures for inclusion in a new city bylaw on environmental protection. Those measures are: 

1. Requiring businesses to distribute single-use straws, utensils, stir sticks and condiment packages only when customers request them
2. Requiring businesses to use only reusable products for food and beverages consumed on-site (with exemptions for businesses that can't accommodate sanitization procedures for reusable products)
3. Requiring businesses to charge a 25-cent fee for any single-use takeout cup or container (with exemptions for free drinks and drink vouchers, hospitals and community care facilities, and charitable food services)

The recommendations are the result of consultations with businesses and the general public, as well as a review of federal and provincial policies and practices in other municipalities.

The city's Zero Waste Victoria plan calls for the reduction of waste by 50 per cent by 2040, and single-use items and plastic packaging are one of the plan's four focus areas.

According to city staff, Victoria residents throw away 75,000 single-use items, on average, every day.

The city collects 14 million single-use items annually through its curbside waste pickup program and public trash cans throughout the city. The most commonly found items are cups, of which the city finds 13,000 per day, as well as containers (6,300) and straws (5,800).

The report indicates that 95 per cent of the 586 Victoria residents who responded to a survey on this issue said they were willing to reduce waste by requesting disposable items rather than receiving them automatically.

A similarly large majority (92 per cent) said they would consider using reusable containers.

Significantly fewer respondents said fees for disposable items would encourage them to switch to reusable ones, with 29 per cent saying a 25-cent fee would encourage them to use a reusable cup and 45 per cent saying the fee would need to be 50 cents.

The staff report recommends a significant grace period - 12 months for takeout service and 24 months for delivery and drive-thru service - before the implementation of the proposed cup fee. The idea is to allow businesses time to prepare for the change.

The other recommended measures would also take effect on a delayed timeline, if adopted as proposed by staff. Businesses would get three months to prepare for the request-only policy and nine months to prepare for the reusable-only policy.

If Victoria adopts a 25-cent fee for disposable cups, it will join Vancouver in doing so. That city's cup-fee bylaw took effect on Jan. 1 and has been controversial.

Initially, Vancouver's rules did not exempt free drinks - such as tap water or a free beverage earned as part of a rewards program - from the fee. Vancouver's council revised the bylaw in March, but councillors are still divided on the policy, with some complaining that it is "fundamentally flawed" because it allows businesses to keep the extra revenue from the cup fee and doesn't require them to adopt practices that would reduce their reliance on single-use items. 

In Victoria, city staff recommend monitoring the cup fee - if one is implemented - and making adjustments, if necessary, "to further motivate waste reduction."

After receiving the staff report at their committee of the whole meeting Thursday, councillors will have to decide whether to pursue the recommended steps by bringing forward a motion to direct the city solicitor to develop a bylaw for future adoption.