Single-Use Plastic By-Law
The City of Sault Ste. Marie is moving forward with the implementation of a single-use plastics ban.
Single-use plastics are items designed to be disposable. They are difficult to recycle.
Single-Use Plastic Ban Program Timeline
City Council passed a resolution requesting staff undertake what is required to put a plastics ban in place in Sault Ste. Marie.
The Government of Canada published the proposed Single-use Plastic Prohibition Regulations, for public review. It identified six (6) categories of single-use plastic items that it is moving forward to prohibit. These include: plastic checkout bags, cutlery, foodservice packaging and service ware made from “problematic plastics”, six-pack ring carriers, beverage stir sticks and straws.
The Government of Canada published final regulations to prohibit the above mentioned single-use plastics. The ban on the manufacture and import of six single-use plastics, barring a few targeted exceptions to recognize specific cases, will come into effect on December 20, 2022, with ring carriers on June 20, 2023 and flexible straws yet to be determined. To provide businesses in Canada with enough time to transition and to deplete their existing stocks, the sale of these items will be prohibited as of December 20, 2023, and June 20, 2024 respectively. The Government will also prohibit the export of plastics in the six categories by the end of 2025, making Canada the first among peer jurisdictions to do so internationally.
The City launched a comprehensive community consultation campaign, to obtain feedback from businesses and residents in the community regarding a single-use plastics ban.
Staff provided council with an update on community consultations and requested to bring draft by-law to Council for August 2022.
Single-use plastics ban by-law approved by City Council.
Checkout Bags will be fully banned in Sault Ste. Marie.
Plastic cutlery and straw, plastic foodservice ware will be fully banned
The enforcement and fees will be applied and come to effect by August 8, 2023
Corporate Waste Reduction Efforts
Community centers and canteen facilities have taken a variety of steps to reduce their waste, including:
- Recycling of Beer Cans
- Cardboard take out option
- Cardboard plates
- Coffee Cups at the Seniors Centre are now washed to reduce waste
- Paper recycling
Changes have been made to purchasing packages to reduce single use packaging material:
- Replaced bagged milk with recyclable cardboard containers
- Replaced plastic straws and stir sticks with paper straws and wood stir sticks
- Offering bottled water and canned beverages as these containers can be recycled
- Replaced Styrofoam food containers with cardboard based containers
- Replaced single-use plastic bags with paper bags. Styrofoam plates have been replaced with ceramic plates and glassware
- All eggs are purchased in cardboard based cartons only
- Beer is no longer accepted in plastic rings
- Liquid soaps in bathroom dispensers are refilled from larger jugs to cut down on the amount of smaller packaging
- Replaced non-refillable pens with re-fillable pens and pencils
- When items are purchased for the facilities they are required to be delivered in cardboard boxes instead of plastic film packaging
Plastic Free Pledge
In 2021, City Public Works – Waste Division in partnership with Clean North developed the City’s plastic free pledge. Clean North developed the on-line registration form to be completed by all participants.
The GFL Memorial Gardens was one of the initial locations to take the City’s plastic Pledge in March 2021. At a site level, the Memorial Gardens is performing at a high standard that has allowed the City the status of a Gold Pledge level. In addition, CDES recently contacted GFL and Public Works to add 12 more recycle bins at the GFL to further amplify recycling efforts.
The City of Sault Ste. Marie is encouraging the community to reduce its plastics usage through the launch of its Choose to Refuse: Take the plastic-free Sault Ste. Marie pledge campaign. The City, in partnership with Clean North, has developed a campaign that will both educate and promote a lifestyle that is not reliant on single-use plastics.
Households, businesses, schools, community organizations and workplaces will be challenged to take the pledge. By taking part in this initiative, participants will make a pledge to audit their use of single-use plastics and set attainable goals to reduce and eliminate this waste by moving towards the use of eco-friendly alternatives.
Taking the Pledge
- Step 1: Conduct a single-use plastic audit of your home, business, organization or institution (Clean North/the City will provide an audit checklist) to determine which single-use or short-term-use plastics make up a major portion of your waste stream. Performing a waste audit over time (1-4 weeks) is an optimal way to collect waste data but may not be feasible for everyone.
- Step 2: Choose your pledge level and register with Clean North online; your name, business, organization or institution and pledge level will be posted on a Clean North Plastic-Free Pledge page).
Gold Level
Pledge to stop buying/acquiring 10 plastics.
Silver Level
Pledge to stop buying/acquiring six plastics.
Bronze Level
Pledge to stop buying/acquiring three plastics (ideally those with the greatest impact).
- Step 3: Estimate quantity of each category of single-use plastics used/procured in the previous year (if possible; a shorter period is acceptable). For example: If you estimate that you take in and throw away 4 sets of plastic cutlery due to takeout meals per month, that would be 48 sets per year.
- Step 4: Over the next six months, track whether any single-use plastics you pledged to give up are used in your business/organization/household and if so, how much.
- Step 5: After six months, contact Clean North and report back on the amount of plastic reduction. You will receive a framable award certificate from Clean North and the City, and your achievement will be listed on the Clean North Plastic-Free Sault Hall of Fame page. Clean North will also profile various people, businesses, organizations and institutions that take the pledge and reduce plastic use via the Clean North blog, social media, webinars, etc. Businesses, organizations and institutions are encouraged to ask their staff to consider making individual pledges as well.