Toronto votes for plastic bag fee, banning the water bottle

After two days of debate and as many as 25 proposed amendments, Toronto council last night voted by a margin of three-to-one for a groundbreaking series of packaging-reduction bylaws.

Highlights include:

-A 5-cent charge for every plastic bag customers use from a grocery or retail store starting in June;

-A ban on biodegradable and compostable plastic bags.

-A ban on retail bags with rope handles or metal grommets by the end of next year.

-A ban on the sale of plastic water bottles at civic centres, effective immediately, and on all municipal premises from city hall to golf courses by 2011.

-A request the retailers also provide shoppers with alternatives to having the pay for a plastic bag, whether by providing cardboard boxes or paper sacks for shoppers.

Mayor David Miller said he was "proud" of Toronto’s decision in the face of persistent opposition from industry, despite concessions he help broker with a large portion of grocers and flexibility on the date for banning certain kinds of bags.

"The associations, except for the Canadian Council of Grocery Distributors, the big retailers pushed to the very end to try and stop these kinds of things. I think that’s unfortunate," said Mr. Miller. "But the good news is council did what was right."

Councillor Glenn De Baeremaeker (Scarborough Centre), chair of the public works committee, said he was heartened by the strong endorsement of the initiatives – even after a huge outpouring from environmental groups and businesses, a concerted lobbying efforts by industry and a raft of motions from fellow councillors, some of them contradictory.

"They were consistent, two-to-one in favour of the environment," he said. "The vote was much, much stronger than many of the lobbyists wanted it to be, than some of the industry folks wanted it to be. This was a very clear message from the city of Toronto."

The city is working to slash the 460 million plastic bags that ended up in its landfill last year, both by cutting their prevalence and recycling them in the blue box starting Monday. It’s all part of a plan to divert 70% of Toronto’s waste from the dump by 2010.