'Victoria is ahead of the game': Island groups praise Feds single-use plastic ban

Some single-use plastics are soon to be gone in Canada, once a federal ban comes into effect next year.

The ban was announced Monday and is being celebrated on Vancouver Island, where many municipalities and businesses already have a head start.

The ban, which will go into effect in December 2023, includes restricting the sale of plastic cutlery, stir sticks, straws, takeout containers, checkout bags, and six-pack rings, among others.

Vancouver Island Brewing is one company that has already started a transition of its own.

"We wanted to be more environmentally conscious and we’ve shifted toward using boxes or other sorts of more rigid plastics," said Jeff Wright, marketing manager for Vancouver Island Brewing, about the company's drink packaging.

"It changes everything from the way we procure, to how we design our packaging, to how we distribute our packaging," he said.

While the ban on selling these specific types of plastics comes into effect next year, by 2025 Canadian companies will no longer be able to export them as well.

"To make these changes doesn’t happen overnight. It’s something that we’ve been planning the past few years," said Wright.

JUST THE START

Next month, Vancouver Island Brewing is releasing a beer to support SurfRider, an environmental group that does beach cleanups in Tofino, B.C.

"All of these single-use plastics are incredibly hard to recycle, they’re rarely recycled, they end up in the marine environment," said Lilly Woodbury with SurfRider. "They persist there for the rest of time, essentially."

The group says the list of banned items is a start, but that they only make up a small amount of trash found during cleanups.

"Example: cigarette butts. That’s the number one item found in cleanups across the country," said Woodbury. "Why isn’t it talked about? Why is there no work being done on it?"

The ban overlaps with implementation of other single-use plastic bag bylaws that are already in the works for several island communities, including Victoria, which was the first municipality in Canada to axe plastic checkout bags.

"We’ve helped test the waters to make sure it’s valid and to show this change is possible, and now they’re taking it up at the federal level," said Rory Tooke, sustainability manager with the City of Victoria.

The city says it's also looking at crafting its own single-use plastics bylaw to push people towards reusable alternatives.

"Victoria is ahead of the game here," said Tooke. "Victoria businesses and the Victoria community is ready to make these other changes."