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Single use bylaw

Mountain Man

Mountain Man

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So the new single use bylaw is in effect. I get the ban on single use plastics since that spoon with your ramen will exist in the landfill for like 10 000 years. What I want to know is why there is now a surcharge for paper bags and they are required to ask if you want things like napkins. Shouldn't pushing for paper use be part of the push to move away from plastic, not be lumped in with it.
 
The bylaw seems to be one of those things that has turned into a much bigger inconvenience than expected. And some aspects of the bylaw don't seem to make sense. Like, for example, why are they setting a minimum price to sell reusable bags for (which will go from $1 to $2 eventually)? Shouldn't the goal be first and foremost to get people to switch to recyclable bags, regardless of cost? The bylaw seems to be overly prescriptive and more complicated than it needs to be IMO.

I also feel for the small businesses that now must deal with this along with inflation, carbon tax, property and payroll tax hikes, etc. (along with the alcohol escalator tax for licensed restaurants) all while trying to recover from Covid.
 
Mountain Man said:
why there is now a surcharge for paper bags and they are required to ask if you want things like napkins. Shouldn't pushing for paper use be part of the push to move away from plastic, not be lumped in with it.
Click to expand...
The people consulted with and the people hired to look at this by the city think only reusable is a solution.

This regulation will go away. Either the city will repeal it or the province will force them to.
 
Albertasaurus said:
Like, for example, why are they setting a minimum price to sell reusable bags for (which will go from $1 to $2 eventually)?
Click to expand...
Because when someone raised an objection about people accumulating reusable bags the solution was to create a huge financial penalty to try to remind people.

This type of thing just turns people off imo.

Why not require 100% compostable.
 
Mountain Man said:
Couldn't they just make plastic forks and spoons recyclable? I like how Co-op had the compost bags, I just used them in my little compost container in my kitchen, that way I didn't have to buy compostable bags specifically for that purpose.
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Tbh it is super diminishing returns. For small plastic items waste to energy likely wins out. There not automatically sortable by current means, and cleaning them adds another barrier.

this mostly is just an over reach as people that care care a lot and until implemented the implications aren’t entirely obvious.

the lack of a federal push on quality compostable alternatives has burned a lot of good will for little benefit. There are good compostable straws but the companies that hate the ban the most publicly seem to buy the worst compostable straws’

instead the groups advocating for this change just want everyone to be like folk fest 10 years ago, everything reusable.

its unattainable perfection being the enemy of the attainable pretty good. Implement all the hidden things most of us will never notice and people are fine.

for advocates the inconvenience and cost is the benefit. Generally we trust our elected officials to only implement policies Like this if the benefit far outweighs the cost. I doubt many would agree that there is an outsized benefit on this one.
 
The bylaw seems quite arbitrary. From what I gather, and this part could be wrong, the money goes to the business from the purchase of a bag? This essentially puts an additional tax on using a drive thru or any sort of food delivery. I would be more understanding if the fees collected went to some sort of initiative on environment, but this is instead just going to be pocketed.

Once again, Calgary council focusing on the pressing matters......
 
CalgaryTiger said:
Paper bags, surprisingly, are not recyclable.
www.greenyourways.com

Are McDonald’s Paper Bags Recyclable? Recycling McDonald’s Packaging - Green Your Ways

This article will teach you about McDonald's paper bags' environmental effects and whether or not they are recyclable.
www.greenyourways.com www.greenyourways.com
Click to expand...
I wonder about that article though. It says McDonald's bags aren't compostable, but I know they are easily compostable, which makes me wonder about the recycled side. Almost all paper products made these days aren't easily recyclable due to agents added to make the paper stronger or wetness resistant, but they are still recyclable.
 
You can generally expect more conservative minded voters to be against this kind of thing, but most of my local circle of friends lean left and most of them also think the bylaw is annoying, redundant and dumb. It's an epic fail and, yes, it does make Council look like they don't know what they're doing.
 
Just allow compostable plastic bags. It's not hard. China does this. Happy compromise.

Inflation is the #1 issue for voters/Canadians, and our governments are so stupid as to increase prices even further...... in the name of the environment. Trust me, nobody gives two shits about the environment when they can't afford food. Might as well give them one last kick in the teeth on the way out the grocery store eh? Fucking morons.

I'm literally moving countries because of this plastic bag issue and our leaders being so bloody incompetent.
 
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