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North Okanagan district wants public’s opinion on single-use plastics

An online survey has been made available by B.C.’s environment ministry
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The BC Ministry of Environment and Climate Change is proposing four areas of action on plastics and has opened up a public survey on the matter. (Pixabay)

Debates over the use of plastic waste are only getting more abundant, and now the North Okanagan district wants residents to weigh in.

The Regional District North Okanagan is asking residents to give their opinions on the province’s new proposed actions to reduce plastic waste, including a ban on single-use plastics.

A consultation paper and online survey have been made available by the the BC Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy.

Online feedback is being accepted until Sept. 18 at 4 p.m. Find the consultation paper and fill out the approximately 10-minute survey at www.cleanbc.gov.bc.ca/plastics.

Read More: North Okanagan could ban single-use plastic bags by 2020

According to the CleanBC webpage, more than 40 per cent of plastic is used only once.

The BC Ministry is proposing four areas of action:

  • Bans on single-use packaging: determining which types of plastic packaging to phase out altogether, as well as any necessary exemptions, such as those for health, safety and accessibility, to keep products available for the people who need them.
  • Dramatically reduce single-use plastics in landfills and waterways:requiring producers to take responsibility for more plastic products, ensuring more single-use items like sandwich bags, straws and cutlery get recycled
  • Plastic bottle and beverage container returns: expanding the deposit-refund system to cover all beverage containers—including milk and milk-substitutes—with a 10-cent refundable deposit, keeping millions more containers out of landfills and waterways
  • Reducing plastic waste overall: supporting effective ways to prevent plastic waste in the first place and making sure recycled plastic is reused effectively

Some quick tips for reducing plastic waste can be found at the RDNO’s webpage: Re-thinking Single-Use Plastics.

Read More: BC Liquor Stores to phase in paper bags province-wide


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