City of Montreal officials aren’t sure if it’s the threat of fines that are getting people to obey the year-old single-use plastic ban bylaw, but authorities are just happy with what they see as success.
“We have a 92-per cent compliance rate,” said Marie-Andrée Mauger, executive committee member responsible for ecological transition and the environment.
“We’re really happy to see that less than 40 tickets were issued after a second (inspection) visit.”
The bylaw came into effect March 2023 and covers the 19 boroughs. It prohibits the use of most single use plastic containers in restaurants and grocery stores, like cups, eating utensils, straws and polystyrene, for on-site use, takeout or delivery.
“Our message is that there’s no excuse,” said Mayor Valérie Plante. “(Whether) you’re a mom and pop shop or a big brand, there’s no excuse.”
Exceptions include trays for raw meat and fish and items pre-packaged outside the business. The bylaw applies to 9,500 merchants. Fines range from $400 to $4,000, and according to the city, about 700 businesses, most of them big enterprises, are still lagging behind.
“Because the procurement issue is more challenging for them,” Mauger explained, “since materials might not be sourced locally.”
Grocery store owner Robin Simon thinks the city is on the right track, but he wants authorities to go even further.
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“The city should press every single company to come up with a solution to serve (goods) in something else than plastic,” he told Global News from his store, Chez Robin, in Verdun.
Simon wants the city to remove the exemption for items packaged before they are shipped to stores like his.
Elected officials point out though that the ban on single use plastics is just one step. The city’s goal is to be zero waste by 2030, since the Terrbonne landfill, the only one in the Montreal area, is expected to be full by 2029.
According to Mauger,”We are right now building out two local facilities to compost and make renewable natural gas locally.”
She says Montreal is halfway to having zero waste in landfills, but as Karel Ménard from the Common Front for Ecological Waste Management points out, there is still a long way to go.
“A lot of people put recyclable material into the garbage,” he said. “That’s a big problem.”
Both he and city officials point out that both individuals and businesses have a role to play in reducing waste.
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