Sunshine Coast Regional District (SCRD) directors voted unanimously to ask the province to make rules to reduce single-use plastics and disposable plastic packaging, and they voted to look at the feasibility of campaigning for reduced use on the Sunshine Coast – but they stopped short of moving ahead with a ban because legally they aren’t allowed.
Last July, a delegation headed by Strawless Coast campaigner Evan Guiton urged SCRD directors to consider a single-use plastics ban. Directors discussed a staff report outlining options at last Thursday’s infrastructure committee meeting.
At the meeting, infrastructure manager Remko Rosenboom reminded directors that the SCRD does not have the authority to ban single-use plastics. “The only thing we can do is support [municipalities] in implementing a ban,” he said, in response to a motion made by alternate director Linsey Hull on behalf of Halfmoon Bay director Lori Pratt to start consultation with businesses in anticipation of a ban that Pratt wanted to take effect in 2020.
Directors instead voted in favour of a motion for staff to look into the feasibility of creating an outreach program for the commercial, industrial and retail sectors to reduce or eliminate single-use plastics, which would synchronize with single-use plastic bans imposed by other municipalities on the Coast.
Currently the Town of Gibsons is considering a ban. District of Sechelt council recently received a request by Guidon to ban single-use plastics, but council is awaiting a court decision before considering local action. The plastics industry sued the City of Victoria after they banned single-use plastic bags. The city won, but the decision has been appealed.
Roberts Creek director Andreas Tize made a motion for the SCRD to write to the B.C. environment ministry to ask for province-wide regulations to reduce single use-plastics and disposable plastic packaging.
Gibsons director Bill Beamish said they should move to “eliminate” instead of reduce, but Tize countered that certain products would still be necessary for health and safety reasons. Sechelt director Darnelda Siegers agreed with Tize.
