Wood Buffalo will remain the only municipality to date to ban the use of plastic shopping bags after St. Albert city council voted to take no action locally.
Instead, council voted to receive as information a report compiled by the environmental advisory committee. Following a recommendation by administration, council voted to make no changes to existing policies or bylaws to control the use of single-use plastic bags by residents or retailers.
The report comes following a motion passed in November 2010 that asked for a report on how other municipalities were treating single-use plastic bags. The bags, distributed by almost all retailers, are a sore spot for environmentalists because they number in the billions, yet can’t be effectively recycled because the lack of consistent quality removes any possibility of establishing a profitable recycling market.
Instead, Leah Jackson, the city’s office of the environment manager, described the memorandums of understanding (MOU) the provinces or territories have been signing with producers as the best way to curb their use.
“I foresee within the next couple of years all provinces will have a similar MOU,” Jackson said.
The MOUs call for an independent third party to audit numbers reported annually by retailers’ associations. The parties will also look at recyclability, Jackson said.
“If retailers could provide plastic bags that were all the same, the market would be there.”
While most large stores willingly take back their own bags, those taken to different stores for recycling or dropped off at recycling depots in Edmonton are typically landfilled, Jackson said.
Coun. Cathy Heron said she had been hoping for more creative, innovative ideas to address the problem.
“I don’t want to tell people not to do things,” Heron said. “I want to encourage people to do things.”
Coun. Wes Brodhead was particularly disappointed the city would not be taking any action.
“It’s something we’ll have to deal with and as much I as I appreciate the attempts, I don’t know if we can get there unless we say we’re just not going to do it anymore. I think St. Albert should lead.”
