The Campbell River chapter of the Council of Canadians is working with local environmental groups to try to convince their city council to ban the use of plastic bags in their community.
In October, chapter member Richard Hagensen delivered a letter with the Campbell River Environmental Committee, the Quadra Island chapter of Sierra Club BC and Citizens for Quality Health Care to city council seeking the ban. When months went by and no response was received, Hagensen contacted councillors again asking about the delay.
Council members said they were taking time to consider the implications of a ban and were monitoring how other cities were proceeding. In British Columbia, Victoria has banned the use of plastic bags and Nanaimo council has also voted in favour of a ban.
In their original letter, the groups said they are “deeply concerned at the rising tidal wave of plastic pollution affecting our planet.” They urged the city to “play its own (small) part in responding to the crisis and consider single-use plastic bag ban as part of an effort to both reduce plastic pollution and promote awareness of and a conversation around what is now a major international problem.”
Single-use plastic bags, the group said, “are widely recognized as a significant source of unnecessary plastic pollution. Lightweight, they blow out of trash bins and landfills and are found along roadsides or floating in water, where they present a danger to both environment and wildlife.”
