In a significant announcement for the environment from the BC government, new plastic waste regulations have been announced, which businesses and organizations have six months to comply with.
It’s called the Single-Use and Plastic Waste Prevention Regulation, and it will cover shopping bags, disposable food service accessories, oxo-degradable plastics and food service packaging made of polystyrene foam.
George Heyman, BC’s minister of environment and climate change strategy, said that this will ensure a better future for the people of BC.
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Requirements for the regulation will come into play this December.
“This will give six months to educate the public and businesses about the new requirements, and allow time for businesses to use up existing inventory,” reads a statement from the environment ministry.
The regulations will focus on hard-to-recycle single-use and plastic items.
BC says this will help move BC to a “circular economy where waste and pollution are eliminated, products and materials are kept in the economy through re-use, and natural systems are regenerated.”
BC’s minister of jobs added, “The new regulation complements and expands on provincial, municipal and federal government actions on plastics by further reducing waste and promoting the use of reusable items.”
A large part of the BC government announcement from Friday morning had to do with how plastic waste impacts sea life, which affects the diets of some Indigenous communities that exist on seafood.
You can read more about the regulations here.
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