North Battleford has become the latest city facing decisions on what to do about plastic bags in the city.
The dilemma has emerged after Loraas Environment Services Inc. informed North Battleford it would no longer be accepting plastic film, from shopping bags and other stretchable plastics, for recycling.
In their information package for the Monday, March 12 regular meeting, city council members received further information from Loraas about the situation. They explained that China is no longer accepting their plastic material.
The company stated they had spent months trying to find a new market for their plastic, which has ended up being stockpiled. Loraas stated that it has “come to the realization” that they have no choice but to start sending the plastic film they process to the landfill.
For this reason, they are removing recyclable material from the stream.
City environmental manager Tammy MacCormack further outlined to council the issue Loraas is facing. She said China has brought in strict changes to the material they will accept.
“They put up this wall, literally,” said MacCormack. “For the past several months, probably since the fall, they’ve not allowed products to be offloaded from cargo ships.”
She also noted that while plastic is recyclable, the cost is high. MacCormack noted China has gone from accepting a seven per cent contamination rate in recyclable products, to less than half a per cent.
The impact is massive, as China is the biggest market for recyclable materials in the world. The country takes two-thirds of the world’s recyclable materials, she noted, which means municipalities are impacted all over.
“It’s affecting communities all across North America,” said MacCormack.
She called it “one of those situations where, as consumers, we have to look at our use of plastic bags, and plastic in general, to see where we are going to make changes.” The examples she pointed to included bringing reusable shopping bags to supermarkets.
Councillor Kelli Hawtin suggested going to the Saskatchewan Urban Municipalities Association to see what they could do, calling it “a national crisis, essentially.”
Mayor Ryan Bater suggested the same thing, noting Saskatoon city council recently voted to ban plastic bags from its recycling program, for essentially the same reason. Saskatoon is also considering bringing in a total ban on plastic bags in the future.
A total ban could potentially include North Battleford as well.
One issue city manager Jim Puffalt raised was whether an outright plastic bag ban should be the next step, something other cities have brought in or are currently considering.
“It does raise a question, should we look at banning plastic bags in the city of North Battleford?” said Puffalt.
He did not expect a decision that evening, however, but did ask for guidance. Mayor Ryan Bater was hesitant.
“I guess my curiosity would be how they plan to enforce that and how other municipalities plan to enforce that,” said Bater.
Councillor Kent Lindgren suggested looking at other options. “It’s going to be a huge change and I think this is the start of something,” said Lindgren.
For now, administration is planning an awareness campaign to inform residents of the changes.
They also plan to start working on getting further information on the implications that they could bring to council.
