Support is growing among Metro Vancouver's elected officials for a GVRD-wide plastic bag ban.
A CTV survey shows that many municipal politicians agree with following the lead of cities like San Francisco and forcing stores to put their wares in reusable bags.
"Companies and grocery stores should change to cloth bags instead of plastic ones," said Anmore Mayor Hal Weinberg, one of those surveyed.
The idea of the plastic bag ban has become law in Norway, Australia, and even Zanzibar, Africa. The town of Leaf Rapids, Manitoba led the way in this country.
But while there is a widespread consumer movement, some of our politicians haven't jumped on board.
The Capers chain supports the bring-your-own-bag idea. If you forget your bag, they'll bag your food in paper or you can buy a green bag right by the till.
Whole Foods vows it will be completely plastic bag-free by next Tuesday, Earth Day. A downtown Vancouver location actually stopped using plastic bags two weeks ago, and commemorated by framing its last one for all to see.
In January, Vancouver city councillor Tim Stevenson put a motion forward to ban plastic bags, but it was defeated. The mayor voted against it, punting the motion over to Metro Vancouver for consideration, where the idea has sat ever since.
"We wanted to forward it to Metro Vancouver, and if they didn't deal with it in a certain time limit, we'd have to consider going it alone," said Sullivan.
In the CTV survey, 14 politicians were supportive of a restriction or a ban on bags, while only 4 were against the idea, or unsure.
That's a result that makes Tim Stevenson happy.
"More and more people are bringing in their own or buying those bags, refusing plastic bags, which just means this is really something whose time has come," he said.
With a report from CTV British Columbia's Peter Grainger
