For cities and towns trying to cut out plastic, here's what's worked and what hasn't

Across Canada, communities are trying out single-use plastic bans, fees and other policies to reduce plastic pollution. 

Global plastic consumption has quadrupled in the past 30 years, and only nine per cent is being recycled, the OECD reports. That's the case even in Canada. The rest is landfilled, littered or incinerated — and a federal move to ban six kinds of single-use plastic items is facing a legal setback.

Emily Robinson, a researcher at the University of Guelph who studies sustainability in food service operations, says recycling isn't enough to deal with the scale of the problem, and we need to "turn off the tap."

Among local governments that have been trying to reduce plastic use, some, such as Montreal and Banff, have been ambitious and seem successful so far. But others, like Calgary and Vancouver, have seen setbacks, even repealing some policies. Here's a closer look at the range of strategies, what's working and what's not.

Individual cities and towns were behind the earliest efforts to tackle single-use plastics. On April 2, 2007, Leaf Rapids, Man., then a town of 540 people, became the first municipality in North America to ban plastic bags. Many others across the continent have since followed.

Municipal governments are typically responsible for dealing with local waste and recycling and directly feel the impact in their operations and budgets, so it's no surprise that most single-use plastics regulations in Canada are local, and many use more varied strategies than federal and provincial rules.

Montreal banned a wide range of single-use plastics in March 2023. The city had been providing more public trash cans than ever, but plastic use kept increasing, said Marie-Andrée Mauger, Verdun borough councillor and member of the executive committee for the ecological transition and the environment, at the time. 

The city's rules ban all plastics for cups, stir sticks, straws and on-site consumption utensils; plastic utensils on delivery and takeout; and polystyrene in plates, containers, trays and lids everywhere, with a few exceptions. A year after implementation, the city told Global News it had a 92 per cent compliance rate, and less than 40 tickets had been issued.

Banff, Alta., implemented some ambitious policies that go beyond just bans. Starting last July, it introduced an ask-first/by-request policy. That means restaurants will only give ketchup packages, straws and cutlery if they ask the customer first, or if they're requested. B.C. and Toronto have similar policies.

Customers can also have their takeout order served in their own reusable containers. Toronto has a similar policy for reusable cups and bags.

The second phase of Banff's bylaw, which went into effect in January, requires restaurants, bars and cafes to serve dine-in customers with reusable dishware. In addition, new restaurants need to have at least 10 seats, as well as dishwashers and reusable dinnerware, to get licensed to operate.

That comes with extra costs for businesses, acknowledges Karli Fleury, director of workforce and destination initiatives with the Banff and Lake Louise Hospitality Association — especially for those that weren't set up for dishwashing or can't easily serve their items in commonly used dishware, such as slushy drinks or popcorn. She said the city does offer some rebates for installing dishwashers, and has taken a very collaborative approach: "They've been working with businesses one-on-one [and] have given exemptions for a period of time to allow them to get to where they need to be, regardless of what their challenge is."

But, like Montreal, those living in Banff were experiencing waste issues first-hand and saw the need for change. 

"Being in a very small area where we see a lot of people, especially in the summertime, unfortunately seeing garbage and waste is part of that," Fleury said. "I think living and operating in a national park comes with additional responsibilities.