TORONTO – The Public Works Committee is holding public consultations on the controversial plastic bag ban – despite it already being approved by Toronto city council.
The ban, which comes into effect on January 1, 2013, will prohibit the sale of plastic bags within the city limits.
The bags were first banned in June when a vote to rescind the five-cent bag tax was amended to outright ban the bags.
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The public consultations are meant to give councillors an idea of how the public feels about certain legislation.
Despite the ban already being approved by the city, a number of people and activists made their feelings clear to city council during the public consultation.
Mathew McGuire of the Toronto Taxpayers Coaltiion wrote that the decision to ban plastic bags “defies all logic and reason.”
“Simply put, the bag ban is a sham,” McGuire wrote noting that plastic bags in the city are recyclable and only make up a small portion of landfill space.
A report to the city’s Public Works Committee suggests that banning the bags could create “some minor cost savings” for the city as a result of not having to recycle bags.
However, the report notes, “it is not possible” to estimate how much that savings will be.
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