In an effort to reduce pollution from the city's plastic waste, the city of vancouver began to restrict single-use plastic products such as plastic cups, plastic bags and packing boxes early this year, and plans to charge street cleaning fees to businesses and businesses that distribute such products. The plan was voted on by the city council in mid-may and passed, meaning that all shops and businesses in vancouver will ban plastic in the future.

On Wednesday night, the city council voted to ban the use of disposable plastic straws, styrofoam cups and packing boxes in the city from June 1. City councilors also passed another law on the same day to reduce disposable paper cups and plastic and paper shopping bags. Vancouver became the first city in the world to officially set a zero waste goal and plan accordingly.

There are three options: no single-use paper cups, plastic shopping bags and paper bags; Provide but charge extra fee; Suggest alternative solutions.

If the more flexible regulation does not meet the goal of reducing paper cups and disposable shopping bags by 2021, the city of vancouver will have laws banning them altogether.

According to the city's report, the city produces 2.6 million disposable cups and 2 million plastic bags every week. On vancouver's streets, disposable takeout boxes account for more than 50 percent of all items collected in public trash cans.

Figures released by the vancouver municipal government show that plastic straws and stirrups account for 3 percent of all trash along vancouver's coast, while all people discard 57 million plastic straws every day. And canadians use about 9 to 15 billion plastic bags a year, and they can circle the earth more than 55 times. Plastic bags are bad for Marine life and the environment. They are made from non-recyclable chemicals and will die in agony if swallowed by animals.

According to the New York times, more than 1 billion sea creatures die each year from discarded plastic. In today's oceans, the ratio of plastic to life has reached 1:2. If we don't change the way we live with plastic, by 2050 there will be more plastic in the oceans than fish!

In addition to the damage to the ocean and soil environment, the vancouver municipal government spends 2.5 million yuan a year cleaning and collecting single-use plastic products in public green Spaces and trash bins.

The regulations passed by the city council Wednesday are part of the city's "" 2040 zero waste strategy." " The council also said the city government will help small businesses in the city find new packaging and straws to replace single-use plastic products, ensuring the smooth transition process.

Montreal's plastic bag ban took effect on jan 1, 2018, becoming the first city in the country to implement the ban. The city says this is to improve the environment and stop the phenomenon of plastic bags being left all over the streets.

Under the city's decision, Montreal banned single-use lightweight plastic bags and biodegradable bags that are less than 50 microns thick, and promoted the use of thicker reusable bags, paper bags and cardboard boxes.

The city also set a grace period for the ban, which ends on June 5, the so-called world environment day. Then there will be fines of up to $1, 000 for the first offence, and $2, 000 for the supermarket or retailer.

British Columbia's Victoria announced a total ban on shops offering shopping plastic bags and straws to customers from July 2018. The city of Victoria, which has been studying a total ban on single-use plastic shopping bags since 2015, will go into effect in July this year after initial approval was obtained in December, with enforcement beginning in 2019. From 2019, merchants who do not comply with the ban will face fines of between $100 and $10,000.

Accordingly, the store mainly asks customers whether they need bags. Customers can buy a paper bag for 15 cents or a reusable bag for $2 if they want.

In addition, the city of halifax is considering a ban on plastic bags. Toronto imposed a ban on plastic bags in 2012, but failed to implement it.

Article source: ka cheng Chinese net