Almost a year after the capital introduced new measures, the province continues to review a Victoria bylaw that aims to reduce waste created by single-use products.
After initial readings of the Single-Use Items Reduction Bylaw were approved last April, council on Feb. 22 tasked the mayor with writing a letter requesting the Minister of Environment and Climate Change conduct an expedited review of the bylaw.
Using data from California cities that implemented similar policies, Victoria extrapolated that its bylaw has the potential to stop 60 million single-use items from being distributed and discarded annually. The city’s residents, businesses and institutions trash 220,000 single-use items every day and staff have said that waste is detrimental to local ecosystems.
“This action will realize the substantial environmental and economic benefits of single-use item reduction across the community,” city staff said of the bylaw.
The province allows municipalities to implement bylaws that restrict single-use items, but Victoria still had to get approval from the environment minister because its plan went beyond those permissions.
Provincial reviews of those more ambitious bylaws can take at least a year as the impacts on citizens and businesses are considered, the ministry told Black Press Media.
Victoria’s bylaw overlaps with new waste-reduction policies brought in by the province last year. The province’s ban on the distribution of plastic utensils like spoons, forks, knives, chopsticks, stir sticks and drink splash plugs took effect on Dec. 20, 2023.
The new B.C. regulations also made it so accessory items like straws, napkins, cup lids and wooden utensils are only to be provided upon customer request or from a self-service station.
That measure covered part of Victoria’s bylaw that looked to do the same thing, but the capital’s proposed rules would also require businesses to use only reusable products for dine-in services.
The ministry said such a dine-in requirement is not included in the provincial regulations, which as of mid-July will also ban plastic shopping bags, food-service ware made from biodegradable plastic and other items. Victoria staff said in February it believes the dine-in requirement would have the larger impact of the two bylaw measures.
Amid the wait for provincial approval, some Victoria businesses have already adapted to the proposed changes and voluntarily switched to only using reusable products on site, the city said. However, staff warned that large corporations have been lobbying senior levels of government to oppose measures that reduce plastic waste.
“For this reason, a timely response from the province is really necessary to support the work we’ve been doing with businesses and the readiness that businesses have told us they have for this work,” Melanie Tromp Hoover, Victoria’s lead on solid waste reduction, told council in February.
After noticing some businesses are still providing banned items, and accessory products despite no request for them, Black Press Media asked the province how it’s enforcing the rules that came into effect last December.
The ministry said its focus is to help businesses understand and implement the new regulations, but its staff will follow up with those that are breaking the rules.
“These new regulations are an important way to protect our environment from harmful plastics, and we expect the vast majority of businesses to comply,” the ministry said.
READ: Victoria council won’t bring in fees on single-use cups, takeout containers
