Struggling through plastic wrap on new purchases could become a thing of the past.
Red River Ward Councillor Brian McKinnon tells us Thunder Bay has been talking about this with other municipalities, with the plan to get it done by July 2021.
“The use of heavy plastics with wrapping materials, you go buy a toy somewhere, and it’s in an impossible amount of wrap that you can’t even get into,” says the city councillor.
He tells us the federal government is working to ban all plastic shopping bags by that date, but Ontario municipalities want to go further with full single use plastic.
He acknowledges there will be some hurdles to overcome, “The people who both make them, and package their materials, are going to be held responsible, for disposal, and cost related to all the handling.”
Instead of plastic, the Red River Ward councillor says we could see the switch to paper.
“That’s biodegradable, it certainly will help the economy in Northwestern Ontario with our paper mills and so on, but that’s not necessarily the one motivator,”
The city councillor adds plastic takes generations to decompose, with council looking at the idea at tonight’s meeting. He also says the plan to have producers of plastics take responsibility wouldn’t be implemented until 2023, and in full operation until 2025.
