A ban on plastic bags is widely supported by Nanaimo councillors, who voted in favour of reworking existing bylaws and forwarding it to senior government for approval. (File photo/The Canadian Press)

By Spencer Sterritt

in the bag

Nanaimo city council takes forward steps towards plastic bag ban

Mar 10, 2020 | 4:37 PM

NANAIMO — It appears to be only a matter of time before shoppers in Nanaimo won’t have the option to carry their goods away in plastic bags.

Nanaimo councillors unanimously endorsed on Monday a motion to have City staff revise a draft bylaw regarding checkout bag regulations. The revised draft bylaw will then be brought back to council for the first three readings. Once those are complete, the bylaw will be forwarded to B.C.’s environment ministry for approval.

Under the proposed bylaw, plastic bags wouldn’t be provided by retailers in Nanaimo under most circumstances. Paper bags would be provided to customers for 0.25 cents, while reusable bags would cost $2.

“To me, this is a prudent and sensible option,” coun. Ian Thorpe said. “I’m very encouraged to read that retailers and residents are already choosing not to use single-use plastics and I think we need to build on that.”

Several months of community consultation done by City staff showed 61 per cent of retailers already offer alternatives to single-use plastic bags and 65 per cent of residents support the ban.

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“The numbers are clear, the population is there, the business is there,” coun. Tyler Brown said. “I think at the end of the day it supports other external positive developments.”

Several smaller municipalities, such as Qualicum Beach and Tofino, have pressed ahead with bylaws banning single-use plastics without the province’s approval.

The City of Victoria did the same in 2018 but their bylaw was struck down by the B.C. Court of Appeal. The City of Victoria’s appeal of the ruling was dismissed by the Supreme Court of Canada and the City was forced to pay all costs involved.

Coun. Brown’s motion to proceed with the bylaw without ministerial approval was defeated 5-4, with the potential cost to taxpayers cited as the biggest concern.

Mayor Leonard Krog said it didn’t make sense to move forward to avoid a short wait.

“As much as I appreciate the desire to move forward, I just don’t think I can look at the citizens of Nanaimo and say ‘I felt it was more important to put you at risk of wasting money on legal fees when there was a process that would…allow us to do that.'”

This municipal effort to limit single-use plastics in the community will join both provincial and federal efforts to reduce waste.

spencer@nanaimonewsnow.com

On Twitter: @spencer_sterrit