Victoria council to consider disposable cup fee, other measures to reduce single-use items

Victoria city councillors are scheduled to consider new measures to curb the distribution of single-use items - especially plastics - at a meeting Thursday.

A staff report recommends three specific measures for inclusion in a new city bylaw on environmental protection. Those measures are: 

The recommendations are the result of consultations with businesses and the general public, as well as a review of federal and provincial policies and practices in other municipalities.

The city's Zero Waste Victoria plan calls for the reduction of waste by 50 per cent by 2040, and single-use items and plastic packaging are one of the plan's four focus areas.

According to city staff, Victoria residents throw away 75,000 single-use items, on average, every day.

The city collects 14 million single-use items annually through its curbside waste pickup program and public trash cans throughout the city. The most commonly found items are cups, of which the city finds 13,000 per day, as well as containers (6,300) and straws (5,800).

The report indicates that 95 per cent of the 586 Victoria residents who responded to a survey on this issue said they were willing to reduce waste by requesting disposable items rather than receiving them automatically.

A similarly large majority (92 per cent) said they would consider using reusable containers.

Significantly fewer respondents said fees for disposable items would encourage them to switch to reusable ones, with 29 per cent saying a 25-cent fee would encourage them to use a reusable cup and 45 per cent saying the fee would need to be 50 cents.