Photo by Whitehorse Star
Environment Minister Pauline Frost
Ban on single-use products proposed
The Yukon government is following through on a 2019 commitment to permit the banning of certain types of single-use packages and products.
The Yukon government is following through on a 2019 commitment to permit the banning of certain types of single-use packages and products.
The measure would be implemented via amendments to the Environment Act designed to strengthen the territory’s waste reduction efforts.
They were tabled Monday in the legislature by Environment Minister Pauline Frost.
Bill 14 would allow for new rules around how single-use products and packages are made, supplied, distributed and used.
“Single-use products, like plastic and paper bags, are harmful to the environment and expensive to deal with when they become waste,” the government said in a statement.
In the 2019 Speech from the Throne, the government announced plans to ban single-use bags in the territory.
“Single-use packaging is a growing problem, but one we can address by reducing the amount of single-use products we use in the territory,” Frost said in the statement.
“Banning single-use packages and products will help Yukon align with national and international efforts to reduce waste in our environment and landfills.”
Some local businesses have already stopped issuing plastic bags, as have government liquor stores.
The low cost of producing and disposing of single-use items has increased the amount of disposable plastic products and packaging that end up in the environment, the government pointed out. Only nine per cent of plastic is recycled in Canada.
Plastics that are not recycled, like some single-use bags, are a mounting problem because they end up in waterways, forests and in the stomachs of wildlife and birds.
Plastic takes thousands of years to break down. Even as it does, plastic in the environment is still hazardous, as tiny pieces are often eaten by fish and aquatic life.
Add your comments or reply via Twitter @whitehorsestar
In order to encourage thoughtful and responsible discussion, website comments will not be visible until a moderator approves them. Please add comments judiciously and refrain from maligning any individual or institution. Read about our user comment and privacy policies.
Your name and email address are required before your comment is posted. Otherwise, your comment will not be posted.
Comments (34)
Up 1 Down 0
Josey Wales on Oct 12, 2020 at 10:14 pm
June June ...the fact spewing Gatling gun today!
Geez June your barrels, must be seriously smoking...that is a heap of intellectual lead.
Even I am tired of the repeat cycle I am guilty of, so many give not a rats ass of the myriad of bullshit events, turning Canada into 3rd world etc.
June please carry on and when participating...get those barrels smoking.
Serious times call for serious conversation, and thanks to our beloved Star for hosting said discussions in a time when media knows...our Star?
Waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyy less then the flaming liberal echo chambers that represent the majority of media sites.
Our state broadcaster might as well have a hammer and sickle for their logo.
yes...I just freely expressed that.
Up 10 Down 1
Juniper Jackson on Oct 11, 2020 at 12:34 pm
Frankly, I do not care about single use plastics.. Canada, the Yukon, have bigger fish to fry than using a plastic straw. When "An Inconvenient Truth" came out, it took awhile for Al Gore's marketing team to sell that to the sheeple, but when they bought into it, cutting down trees is causing a hole in the ozone, and we're all going to die. Sheeple went crazy, not as crazy as now, but pretty crazy..and me right there with them..it was before computers were mass marketed.. paper products were banned, paper bags from grocery stores, were replaced with plastic. (It turned out that the hole in the ozone layer was caused by a huge undersea volcano erupting.. and has been healing and closing ever since.. but that happy news was never as popular as disaster. Ironic isn't it? That paper is back on the same disaster train it left on..
Others here have tried to indicate the true problems we are facing today. The Liberals are great at deflection, at word smithing, i.e. Communism has a bad rep, we'll call it socialism'. Illegals and migrants chewing up our social benefits at a massive rate, let's call them immigrants. An Immigrant has to have a trade, a job, speak English or French, apply, and they want to come here for a new life. Not all, but many of the others walking across our borders, put on a plane to make up the quota..they are coming here with both hands out. So, illegal entry is a huge problem. We don't have accommodation here, all over Canada, welfare, illegals, migrants are in hotel rooms, charging meals, have bank cards.. in the last week I had 3 calls asking if we had any work and could we hire them through the nominee program. I know the Family Hotel, the Chilkoot Hotel, the Riverside Hotel and the Stratford all are housing welfare people. The street people at the shelter, and the shelter has 16 small bachelor suites. There is NO accommodation for people coming here, through the gov is hiring them as fast as they can, almost barring locals from government jobs. 126 businesses shut down in Whitehorse.. Am I the only one that is concerned about that? That is products that are not being made locally, are not being brought in, people not working, owners without livelyhood now.
So many changes in the Yukon in 60 years.. some for the better, some for the worse.. (no matter what local gov is in place, Centennial still isn't paved or have sidewalks). The countries finances are huge, our credit downgraded again, yet, governments are shrugging it off like it doesn't matter.
Our PM has 5 guilty charges against him for Ethic's violations.. our officials are not supposed to be taking bribes. The problem with Ethics and scandals is that we lose, and have lost international respect. They have gone out of their way to irritate our biggest trading partner, and our GNP (Gross National Products) are shrinking quickly with trade deficits. We are in so much trouble.. and people are worrying about straws? I have kids and grandkids, and even a great grand that I want to see live long, prosperous lives. If we continue the downhill slide that is not going to happen.
BTW, many, many of our newcomers can not fit into the Yukon. They come from hot or warmer climates and soon leave for BC and warmer climates, or Ontario, where friends, relatives or at least countrymen are living. Just to clarify my comment..I do not want this mass exodus into Canada, none of them until Canadians all have jobs, BUT, now that they are here, I want them fed, housed, clothed. Once they get a foot into the country, we must be responsible for them. Close the entry holes and regulations.
Up 4 Down 11
Martin on Oct 10, 2020 at 12:17 am
YG should Tax any incoming Amazon package and our waste will be reduced by 30%.
Ban bottled water (sold in plastic bottles) and we'll reduce waste even more.
Up 13 Down 1
North_of_60 on Oct 9, 2020 at 11:07 pm
The non recyclable soft plastic we give to Raven gets baled and shipped south to cement kilns in Richmond and Delta, and the Waste-to-Energy plant in Burnaby. For the cement kilns, that plastic waste displaces fuel oil or gas that would otherwise be used. Plastic is made from natural gas, burning it for heat after we've used and reused it makes sense.
Up 19 Down 0
Confused on Oct 9, 2020 at 3:53 am
I see in the national press articles they are exposing that a lot of the plastics are not recyclable as previously thought.
Then I see a sign at the recycling center that states it takes 93% less energy to produce new plastic from recyclables than creating from scratch.
Which is it and who has suddenly come on with these new revelations about some plastics not be useful for recycling?
Did somebody not try to recycle these plastics before with results and why is this just coming out now?
Up 22 Down 8
Unfeckingbelievable! on Oct 8, 2020 at 11:03 pm
Well done Salt! I whole heartedly endorse your message: Salt on Oct 8, 2020 at 9:57 am
Hopefully the current Liberal government will recognize that it is a single use product as well... Please look in the mirror oh Liberal one... With the same personality and intellectual capacity as plastic... I don’t know about you but I see all sorts of plastic blowing this way and that way in the wind... Like Liberal promises... Torn, tattered, and shredded... Flapping in the wind... Yada, yada, yada...
Here, here Josey Wales!
Up 18 Down 3
John on Oct 8, 2020 at 5:24 pm
What a novel idea. We go grocery shopping and no bags, plastic or otherwise to put groceries in. Oh yes, bring your own bag. Great idea except grocery stores don’t allow you to bring your own bag to bag your stuff because they are “filthy”. So now what do you do? I guess we’ll have to go to silver bags to support Yukon mining. They don’t make decomposable bags in the Yukon so that is out also. Besides, decomposable bags look too much like plastic.
Up 13 Down 5
At home in the Yukon on Oct 8, 2020 at 2:59 pm
The federal government seems to be on the same wavelength. If we let them do the banning, then the large stores (WalMart, SuperStore, SaveOn, etc.) can use one solution across the country. This might be a wee bit slower, but I bet it will flow more smothly.
Up 22 Down 3
Groucho d'North on Oct 8, 2020 at 12:53 pm
@Salt
Good analysis, but let's not be too hasty to discount stupidity as it is applied more frequently than your Nom de plume.
Up 37 Down 1
Salt on Oct 8, 2020 at 9:57 am
@got the courage
We aren’t allowed to talk about the real problems because what is a liability to an honest/just/sustainable society is an asset to those who control our actual society. Immigration and migration suits the purposes of all our political leaders. Primarily they help paper over fundamental flaws in our economic system. Our credit/money system is dependant on perpetual growth. Any simpleton understands perpetual growth in a finite system is not possible, yet it is the bedrock of our economy. As the birth rate declines (as it does in all 1st world societies), immigration provides the consumers/tax donkeys that are required to pretend this system works. All major parties support this to a degree. At a lower level “conservative” parties support foreign workers as they depress wage growth and “liberal” parties support immigration for votes and ideological expansion.
Locally, multiple levels of government are creating a disastrous situation in housing and personal finance by restricting land development and importing thousands of immigrants and migrant government workers over the last 10 years. This is similar to how government has created an energy crisis in the Yukon over the last decade. On one hand they refuse to develop new resources, perpetually “planning” and “consulting”, while on the other hand multiple governmental departments are increasing electrical demand through subsidizing population growth and electrical heat. At some point these conflicts can’t just be chalked up to stupidity. They are used to attain goals that would be out of reach in a non-crisis situation.
Up 30 Down 0
Guncache on Oct 7, 2020 at 9:14 pm
How about banning the plastic packaging that every item is packaged in that we buy. Pay for your item and then cut the packaging off and leave it at the till.
Up 31 Down 0
Charlie's Aunt on Oct 7, 2020 at 8:50 pm
Here's a good article about recycling plastic: https://www.cbc.ca/documentaries/the-passionate-eye/recycling-was-a-lie-a-big-lie-to-sell-more-plastic-industry-experts-say-1.5735618
Best words are 'reduce & reuse.'
Maybe if no-one wants margarine tubs they can be reused for leftovers, instead of buying new containers. Those of us whose parents lived through the austerity of WW2, know well that every plastic bag and container was carefully washed and stashed away for future use. Waste not, want not were words they lived by.
Up 11 Down 21
BnR on Oct 7, 2020 at 6:04 pm
I bet the usual suspects would be all in favour if say Currie Dixon proposed it.
It’s about time we do this. Only an idiot would think this is a bad idea.
Up 12 Down 9
woodcutter on Oct 7, 2020 at 4:51 pm
I like old western movies, you know the type that are black and white and made during the black and white movie days. Those movies show so much about what the west was like, the buildings, the roads, the stores, clothes and manner of speaking just to name a few. Makes sense right? The movie is made in the 1930's so there for much of the cultural elements are reflected and remembered since 1890 was within folks living memory. If you're all confused how you're going to cope without plastic bags in your life, watch some of these old movies. In these old movies you will see folks walking in with baskets and bags and it seems they are not inconvenienced at all.
Perhaps the criticism is coming from a perceived "entitlement" for a bag? It appears that many folks will be in crisis once plastic bags vanish, I hope they don't follow the dinosaurs onto the list of species not able to adapt to sudden change. In this case the change is not as sudden as a meteorite, there has been lots of signaling of intention. Evolve or perish, in this case, it's back to the future.
Up 30 Down 18
Josey Wales on Oct 7, 2020 at 4:10 pm
Single use eh...hmmm?
Two S's in Single use, correct?
Speaking of single use...Team SS also has two S's AND should be single use to us too.
Just ban stupid, then by default we will be rid of the far left and the regular left.
with non stupid...left over.
...and we elected these fools? Boy are we ever stupid.
Team SS led by lispy ladyboy in its ivory tower...absolutely SUBJUGATING our citizens more and more each day.
The bag ban is just a weapon of mass distraction, understand that..."it's time"
Up 34 Down 10
Max Mack on Oct 7, 2020 at 3:39 pm
Feel good legislation that will increase the cost of living in so many ways and will do next to nothing for the environment - and may actually do more harm to the environment.
I could provide mountains of evidence that puts government claims to shame. What's the point when the media is clearly on the government's side?
Up 36 Down 1
Bandit on Oct 7, 2020 at 10:40 am
Why not make the "single use shopping bags"out of the same product that compostable bags are made of? I can buy my groceries and bag them in a bag that will end up as a trash can liner that will be composted and save me the cost of buying compostable bags.
As an FYI, last weekend I went shopping, I bought a 5lb bag of potatoes, 2 loaves of bread, 2 different sliced meats at the Deli, all of my purchases were in "single use bags" and with the exception of the potatoes they all fit into one "single use bag" that I will use many times over.
Up 33 Down 2
Bob on Oct 7, 2020 at 10:17 am
A ban on 6 plastic items are to be implemented Nationally at the end of 2021. Why are we rushing ahead of the National ban. With the Yukon's main economy coming from tourism (hoping, it will open up next year & return to normal) we will still have many plastics coming into the Yukon until the National ban takes place.
www.nanaimobulletin.com/news/straws-stir-sticks-and-bags-among-first-targets-of-countrywide-plastics-ban/
Up 32 Down 4
Anie on Oct 7, 2020 at 9:35 am
And today the feds announced a ban. Did nobody tell Silver?
Up 33 Down 2
John on Oct 7, 2020 at 9:30 am
https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/single-use-plastics-1.5753327
Just a PR stunt, as they are going to have to follow federal regs anyways. Waste of time, maybe they should work on their communication between different levels of government.
Up 19 Down 29
Davis on Oct 7, 2020 at 8:56 am
It's about time! People will whine and complain for the first year then after that when people get used to it we'll wondering why we ever allowed single use plastics in the first place.
Up 46 Down 9
Obi on Oct 7, 2020 at 5:53 am
Speaking of banning single use items, the sitting government comes to mind.
Up 45 Down 7
got the courage to deal with the real problem? on Oct 6, 2020 at 9:20 pm
Less people = less consumption = less garbage in the landfill. But we keep inviting more and more people into the Yukon. (And Canada). When will we start talking about the real problems instead of dealing with the fluff on the top?
Up 34 Down 8
North_of_60 on Oct 6, 2020 at 8:49 pm
These LIBgov people are quite misinformed by their blind ideology. So much of what they say makes no sense. Paper bags, are NOT harmful to the environment, or expensive to deal with when they become waste. They naturally disintegrate and rot, or they can be easily burned in a stove.
Up 23 Down 6
Wilf Carter on Oct 6, 2020 at 6:39 pm
Did you know you can buy bags that break down now.
Up 10 Down 7
Wilf Carter on Oct 6, 2020 at 6:38 pm
Thanks Anie you just made my point, only 9% is recycled. Now we can recycle a lot more if we use the opportunities.
Up 31 Down 5
Matthew on Oct 6, 2020 at 6:11 pm
Please.. they already have biodegradable plastics.. can even make plastic from hemp.. but nope, the government doesn't actually care about plastic waste or they would make a law in Canada saying only recylced plastic allowed. imagine the waste covid is producing. LOL
Up 59 Down 4
Groucho d'North on Oct 6, 2020 at 4:33 pm
So will government sold cannibis plastic packaging be included in this prohibition?
Up 38 Down 5
Charlie's Aunt on Oct 6, 2020 at 4:30 pm
Frost's household must be run differently to mine. As Wilf says, plastic bags can be re-used many times. They probably have more uses and last longer than so called re-usable shopping bags. The problem is use it once & chuck people being irresponsible. Those bags can be woven into sleeping mats, permanent shopping bags & other items; there's a home based mini industry for someone. Guess we'd better all stock up on freezer bags. How about YT starts lobbying manufacturers over plastic packaging that is definitely single use and don't forget the plastic wrap on stems of organic bananas. Are produce bags going to be eliminated so items are now going to be rolling loose in a shopping cart? Oh wait some items, tomatoes, oranges etc., can be bought in plastic mesh.
Up 28 Down 41
JC on Oct 6, 2020 at 4:28 pm
Plastic was only invented less than 200 years, but the leftys are trying to tell us it takes thousands of years to break down. How did they figure that out? Another lie.
Up 32 Down 7
Anie on Oct 6, 2020 at 4:17 pm
Wilf, the article says that only 9% "is recycled". It does not say only 9% is recyclable.
Up 42 Down 16
Wilf Carter on Oct 6, 2020 at 3:32 pm
The number quoted in this piece only 9% of plastic is recyclable is not true at all. Whoever gave number to the Yukon Government needs to be exposed. Recycled plastic can be used to make plastics, lumber and other things like in road construction. Plastic bags from stores are recycled many times. Like putting food in them, collecting garbage, in freezing food, keeping fruit in, etc. So if we can't find bags to use then we buy more bags so we can do the above.
Check other parts of the world on this subject. It is so frustrating to watch our Yukon government not researching the facts in evidence as Sandy Silver stated they would! How is paper bad for the environment because they break down into nothing over time. Again employ some real science people in the field recycling, dendrogy, botany, chemical processing, instead wasting millions on science facts that are not true.
Up 48 Down 6
Yukoner on Oct 6, 2020 at 2:44 pm
Can they ban single use masks!!
Up 51 Down 11
My Opinion on Oct 6, 2020 at 2:06 pm
Rome is Burning. Let's use this money to help small businesses get through this very tough time. Air North is going to need plenty of help. Don't waste our money.