The City of Guelph is taking the next steps in eliminating single-use plastics.
A recommendation was passed at council’s committee of the whole meeting last Tuesday in support of Phase Two of the city’s Single-Use Items Reduction Strategy.
Starting March 1, 2025, businesses must accept a customer’s clean, reusable drink cup for beverages served in stores. Business must also offer single-use accessory food ware (such as utensils, cup sleeves, and stir sticks) only when requested by a customer, with the exception of straws. Paper shopping bags must also contain at least 40 per cent post-consumer recycled content.
The idea of allowing customers to bring in their own reusable cups was brought up at the meeting as an alternative to imposing fees on disposable beverage cups. There were some concerns about health and safety as to how businesses will be able to accommodate accepting reusable cups or containers as the city and the rest of the world are coming off COVID-19 measures.
“There are handling procedures put in place to ensure there is no cross-contamination,” said Heather Connell, technical services manager for solid waste resources at the City of Guelph.
“We have consulted Wellington-Dufferin-Guelph Public Health. There are others in the province that are also doing this.”
The first phase of the strategy banned businesses from offering plastic shopping bags and polystyrene take-out containers in 2023. Connell said the phased-in approach was done to ensure compliance and to make the transition easier for businesses. She added she doesn’t expect there will be any difficulties moving forward.
“We only heard about 12 businesses that were not adhering to the requirements,” she said. “We conducted an education-first approach. Most of them were able to comply after receiving their educational visit. Some businesses said they were using up current supplies and would switch over to the new materials.”
In a news release, the city said the recommendations on the latest phase were based on results of a survey of businesses in the city.
The recommendations and proposed bylaw still require council approval. Council is expected to vote on them at its June 25 meeting.