Fuchsia Dragon | [email protected]
Progress on Jasper鈥檚 single-use plastic ban is moving like a bag in the wind.
Since February, the municipal council has been discussing the best way to reduce single-use plastic bags in town and has drafted a bylaw to ban them.
Varied feedback on implementing the ban has come in from Jasperites and local businesses and now council must decide which direction to go in.
Councillors agree that plastics are bad for the environment and action needs to be taken, but even the basis of the scheme was questioned at their committee meeting on Tuesday.
Councillor Rico Damota said feedback he had heard from hoteliers in Jasper was that targeting single-use checkout bags was 鈥渓ike putting lipstick on a pig鈥�.
He said: 鈥淲hat鈥檚 coming in and out the back doors, all the crates that come in, the skids, they are wrapped in plastic and you could fill several garbage cans a day in the back alleys.鈥�
And Councillor Scott Wilson said they were pushing on local businesses who are already competing with online to buy more expensive bags and charge their customers.
鈥淚 am not in support at this point,鈥� he said. 鈥淲e have to be lobbying higher levels of government to make real change.鈥�
But other councillors said the change has to start somewhere.
鈥淪cratching the surface is the only route to the centre of the problem,鈥� said Jenna McGrath.
鈥淭his is not a political decision, this is a critical decision and not something we should be recognising years from now.
"We have to move and reduce plastics in every way, shape and form.鈥�
She was backed up by Councillor Helen Kelleher-Empey, who said: 鈥淵es we are scratching the surface, but Rome wasn鈥檛 built in a day.
鈥淲e are not the first and are not going to be the last doing this and I think we need to move forward.鈥�
In feedback from business owners, some said they felt that charging a fee for a checkout bag would negatively affect customer experience and potentially result in loss of business.
Mark Fercho, chief administrative officer for Jasper, suggested allowing businesses to create their own fee structures.
McGrath said she liked that idea and didn鈥檛 want the bylaw to be enforceable but 鈥渕ore of a community initiative.
鈥淚 agree it is not our place to determine the way a business chooses to follow the ban.鈥�
Councillor Bert Journault agreed that he didn鈥檛 like the idea of business owners being fined.
And the mayor, Richard Ireland, said this project has been proof that you can鈥檛 please everyone.
鈥淚t鈥檚 really interesting to read the diversity of opinion,鈥� he said.
鈥淭he bylaw would be improved if we stated a clear goal.
鈥淲e are starting with details but have to agree this would be a component of an overall waste reduction strategy.
鈥淓ven if a plastic bag is reused, it is still going to be garbage for a long time that ends up in unwanted places so reduction ought to be our strategy.鈥�
