Plastic bags in Metro Vancouver could soon be a thing of the past, if Councillor Tim Stevenson has his way.
Stevenson is leading a motion to ask city council to find out the best way to phase out plastic bags in Vancouver.
"I'm trying to leave things fairly open with staff, so they can look at all the various options there are," he told bc.ctv.ca. "And then this would include taxing, banning them immediately, biodegradable bags, and other technologies," he said.
His motion says phasing out the use of plastic bags is just part of the city's responsibility to protect the environment and meet Metro Vancouver's "Zero Waste" Challenge.
If the report shows there are viable options to phase out the bags, and council decides to implement the ban,Vancouver would be following an example set by other cities worldwide which have already stigmatized the bags as wasteful and harmful to the environment.
Whole Foods, a major grocery chain with hundreds of locations in the U.S., U.K. and Canada, announced this month it would ban the bags on Earth Day, April 22nd. Capers Whole Foods markets, with four locations in the Lower Mainland, will ban the bags the same day.
Ireland, Sweden, Germany, China and Australia have all implemented or are in the process of implementing plastic bag restrictions. In the U.S., California, New Jersey and New York are working on the issue, and Leaf Rapids, Manitoba, claims it is the first municipality in North America to outright ban the bags.
Environmentalists have long been advocating the abolishment of the hazardous bags, and a youth group that supports the idea of a plastic bag ban has created an email campaign on social networking site Facebook.
The list, called "Ban the plastic bag - Vancouver" has garnered support from Vancouverites who support the initiative. A spokesperson for the group told CTV News they will be using the group's membership to show support when they speak to city council today.
