Local stores in Calgary are getting ready to do business without single-use plastic.
However, if customers were to shop at Canary Refillery and Zero Waste Market in the northwest of the city, they would notice there is no single-use plastic anywhere to be found.
Owner Lisa Whitford said that was the plan when the market opened four years ago.
“When we started this, that was part of the goal … to do something that wouldn’t have a huge impact on the environment,” she said.
The zero-waste refillery on Kensington Road allows customers to bring in their own containers and refill them with things like shampoo, soap, household cleaners as well as laundry and dishwashing soaps and powders.
Whitford said since the market opened its doors, it has worked with suppliers to limit the amount of packaging brought into the store.
Whitford said she believes Canary shows that living without plastic can be done as the country moves closer to a total ban on single-use plastics.
“At first it was weird for me not to use Ziploc bags, but now that I have stasher bags or silicone bags, I don’t even think about it anymore,” she said.
From December 20, the federal government’s next stages of the process to ban single-use plastics will come into effect.
READ MORE: Canada’s single-use plastics ban a ‘first step’ in waste reduction. What’s next?
At that time, the import and manufacture of single-use plastics such as shopping bags, take-out containers and cutlery will no longer be allowed in Canada.
A year later, a total ban on these items will come into effect.
“This is an advantage for the environment,” says Stephen Burger, owner of Mañana Imports. “It’s a benefit for everyone.
“It’s something that I think should have been moved at some point.”
While Burger knows there are still 12 months before his store and others will no longer be allowed to bag customer purchases with single-use plastic bags, he is already in the process of switching to biodegradable bags rather than the traditional ones.
“Lately, I’ve been getting more reusable bags that people can use over and over coming from Thailand and other places — tarps, heavier weights,” he said.
A 2019 study by the City of Calgary found that about 3.5 million plastic shopping bags found their way into the city’s landfill, along with millions of takeout containers and disposable cups.
Ward 2 councilor Jennifer Wyness said the city is currently in the feedback stage of a new ordinance that will aim to further reduce single-use plastic consumption with a focus on compostable brown bags and wood.
“It’s not just one government order that fixes this,” Wyness said. “It’s a global issue … (with) global consequences and I think sometimes we set the box too narrow when it comes to addressing the climate.”
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