City of Vancouver to review flaws in mandatory fees for single-use cups | Daily Hive

Single-use cups at Starbucks. (Shutterstock)

After just under a month of implementation, Vancouver City Council has ordered city staff to review the new mandatory fees on single-use beverage cups provided by businesses.

City council is responding to significant backlash from the public over potential flaws in the $0.25 fee per single-use cup distributed by cafes, bubble tea shops, fast food chains, and other food vendor businesses, which became a requirement on January 1.

In an unanimous vote on Tuesday afternoon, city council approved a member motion put forth by independent councillor Rebecca Bligh. However, this direction is not an attempt to repeal the fee.

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Bligh says she wants city staff to look at how the fee is affecting low-income and vulnerable people, food delivery app services, and other loopholes, such as businesses circumventing the fee by reducing the cost for their coffee, for example, to not discourage customers.

Moreover, the vast majority of businesses are not accepting reusable cups handed to them by customers, for reasons that include health safety concerns by their staff, and logistical issues when labour shortages are already prevalent. Customers are penalized either way as there is no reusable option.

Although the BC Centre for Disease Control suggests reusable cups are safe, businesses have been taking extra health safety precautions. The single-use cup policy was implemented at a time when the rapid spread of the COVID-19 Omicron variant caused major staffing shortages in businesses, especially in food vendor businesses where staff closely interact with customers.

“This is certainly not a step towards trying to kill it by any stretch. I think the public are going to really feel assured that we as city council are not just providing or coming in with a top-down policy,” said Bligh.

“But we are stepping into our role as a government to sort of roll something out, and then go and look and see how that’s actually used with evidence or data to make any tweaks if necessary.”

There has also been backlash over the fee’s impact on low-income and homeless people, given that an extra $0.25 for coffee to stay warm in the winter or a cold drink to stay hydrated in the summer can make a significant difference in the budgets of these individuals.

“I think this is a good idea. I support the changes to the idea of reducing single-use cups and bags, but this is having a hard impact on lower income people… I think we do need to do some investigating about the glitches and how we can overcome them,” said COPE councillor Jean Swanson.

Green Party councillor Michael Wiebe, who owns Eight ½ Restaurant in Mount Pleasant and is an investor in Portside Pub in Gastown, said restaurant businesses were previously subsidizing the costs of single-use items and takeout operations. He says the latest fees narrow the gap in recovering the distribution costs.

But independent councillor Sarah Kirby-Yung noted the policy has also seen criticism for allowing businesses to pocket the revenue.

The City of Vancouver does not keep the $0.25 collected by businesses; businesses are allowed to keep the revenue, on the basis that they will invest in reusable alternatives for single-use items, such as reusable cups, dishwashers, and reusable cup-share programs, and cover the associated costs of complying with the bylaw. But there is no legal requirement for businesses to use the revenue this way.

Vancouver’s policy has also had a ripple effect in suburban cities where the policy is not in effect, but some businesses have decided to implement the fees at these locations anyway, such as large chains who share the same computer system. She adds that there may be differences in the operations of small chains and big businesses.

Kirby-Yung also acknowledged the implementation of the fee comes at a time when the cost for food and goods are experiencing high inflation rates.

“It really is an equity thing because the people that think it’s not a big deal financially, ‘oh, it’s just another 25 cents,’ some people might be irritated or some people might not be bothered at all. But it really does impact those people who have very little disposable cash, and we’re seeing a lot in the news about food prices and everything going up, and this is just one more thing,” said Kirby-Yung.

“I absolutely support the aspiration of it, but inevitably any program needs some education and sometimes some refinement.”

City staff will report back to city council by the middle of March on their findings and potential recommended changes to the single-use cup policy.

NPA councillor Melissa De Genova suggested she will have a forthcoming separate motion on performing a similar analysis on the ban on single-use bags, given that city council has received concerns over its impacts on the homeless.

On January 1, Vancouver also implemented a plastic shopping bag ban, and placed a new requirement on businesses to charge minimum fees of $0.15 for a paper shopping bag and $1.00 for a new reusable shopping bag.

Businesses within the City of Vancouver are required to report the number of single-use items they distribute in exchange for their annual business license renewal.

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