Montreal may become the first major city in Canada to ban most plastic bags, doing so on Earth Day 2018.
That recommendations was made Tuesday to the city’s executive committee by the Commission permanente sur l’eau, l’environnement, le développement durable et les grands parcs, a group set up by Mayor Denis Coderre to review the environmental and economic effects of a plastic bag ban.
Thin bags less than 50 microns should be banned, the commission determined, added that thicker ones, which are often reused, should be permitted.
The recommended ban would not affect demerged cities, though plastic bags are already banned in some smaller Quebec communities including Huntingdon and Two Mountains.
The committee will vote on the recommendations within the next six months. If approved, it must then by adopted by the council.
The committee hopes the city will implement a two-year awareness campaign in April 2016 before the April 22, 2018 ban.
“If the executive committee accepts the recommendations of banning thin plastic bags, then the following step is to have an education campaign, an information campaign, for the citizens to inform them of what is coming up, until April 22, 2018, at that point no one… is allowed to distribute them. This application is basically for industry and businesses,” said commission vice-president Dominic Perri.
Not everyone supports the proposed ban; some small businesses worry it could impact sales.
If those bags aren’t available, people may change their shopping habits, argues Francois Vincent of the Canadian Federation of Independent Business.
“If I’m leaving from the office and don’t have bags with me and I decide I want to buy milk but I don’t have bags, it might push me to decide to buy my bread and other stuff on the weekend,” he said.
