By Ian Holmes

Nanaimo keeping eye on regional efforts to ban plastic bags

Sep 20, 2017 | 5:34 PM

NANAIMO — A City of Nanaimo official is closely watching a pair of neighbouring communities who are looking at restricting the use of plastic bags.

Parksville council took an exploratory stance by reaching out for the public’s appetite on the idea, while Qualicum councillors vow to ban plastic bags at the point of sale in the town.

Nanaimo’s manager of sanitation Charlotte Davis supported cutting back on plastic bags in Nanaimo, saying most people don’t go out of their way to properly dispose of them.

“I’d be interested to see if our council has any similar vision because this bigger change obviously has to come from the council table to staff,” Davis told NanaimoNewsNOW. “On a personal note I think it’s forward thinking for the future.”

Davis said there would clearly have to be a widespread community conversation on what the scope of a plastics ban in the Harbour City would potentially look like.

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The Regional District of Nanaimo’s manager of solid waste Larry Gardner told NanaimoNewsNOW there has been “quite a bit of discussion” at the Regional Solid Waste Advisory Committee level about a ban on the use of plastic bags.

“I’m not aware of any community in B.C. that’s been successful in doing that,” Gardner said. “There are definitely challenges in going down that path, but municipal government’s have a little bit more latitude than regional government’s in that respect.”

Gardner believed less than 12 per cent of total items making their way into the regional landfill in Cedar are plastic materials.

He acknowledged growing science about the impact broken down plastics have on the environment and suggested making recycling plastics more convenient might be the best approach to take.

ian@NanaimoNewsNOW.com

On Twitter: @reporterholmes