If elected, which of Edmonton’s mayoral candidates would repeal or change the single-use plastics bylaw?
Global News reached out to all of the people vying for the top spot, and nearly all of them on Tuesday said they would scrap or change the controversial bylaw that led to plastic bags disappearing from grocery stores and a fee being charged for paper bags.
Of the 13 people currently vying for mayor, five said they would review the bylaw, seven said they would repeal it and as of publishing on Tuesday, two had not responded.
On July 1, 2023, the City of Edmonton enacted the Single-use Item Reduction Bylaw (20117).
The goal is to lower the number of single-use items handed out in the city, not necessarily to get rid of plastic items for non-plastic, the city said.
Under the bylaw, single-use plastic shopping bags (including compostable or biodegradable) are banned. Styrofoam plates, cups and containers are also no longer allowed.
The city said accessories such as utensils, straws, condiment packets and napkins are only available by request or self-serve, but in drive-thrus customers must be asked if they want any of them.
The bylaw also introduced the bag fee, which is currently 25 cents for paper bags and $2 for reusable ones.
Back in March, mayoral candidate Omar Mohammad said he would repeal the bylaw, calling it a policy that does not work.
“Residents are paying $2 for reusable bags that actually contain 20 times more plastic than the old ones,” Mohammad said.
“To have any environmental benefit, you would need to reuse them about 95 per cent of the time, and people do not even remember to take their cholesterol medicine that consistently.
“Instead, these bags pile up at home and eventually end up in landfills.”
Mohammad also noted many people reused plastic grocery store bags for small garbage bins and pet waste.
“Now people are buying new plastic bags off the shelf for those same purposes, which makes this bylaw a net negative for the environment,” he said.
Another candidate, Tim Cartmell, was on council when the bylaw was passed and said two years after it came into effect that people still don’t like it.
“I guess I didn’t think it would receive that much negative reaction. So you wait for that to play out a little bit — but clearly, this is something that continues to be an annoyance. This is not leading people to make different choices, it’s really just aggravating them.”
The bag fee doesn’t go to government — it stays with businesses like fast food outlets.
“Effectively, they’re getting a free quarter or a free dollar,” Cartmell said. “They could adjust their pricing to reflect that, but it’s really just been a fee bonanza for those private companies, which has had no effect on our landfill, no effect in people’s behaviour really, and really has just upset people.”
Cartmell said he conducted his own survey. He gathered responses from over 1,000 residents and 82 per cent said the bylaw is not effective, with nearly as many saying it should be removed.
“Time has passed, it’s not doing what it was supposed to do, so it’s (time) to get rid of it.”
Mayoral candidate Andrew Knack supported the bylaw in 2023 as a city councillor, but now says residents have made it clear they want the next council to focus on making life more affordable. He said if the bylaw isn’t working as intended, the city needs to take another look at it.
“I commit to reviewing the effectiveness of the bylaw to determine if it is helping to reduce waste going to our landfill and the direct and indirect financial impacts on consumers,” Knack said in a statement Tuesday.
“The more waste we can reduce from going to the landfill saves taxpayer money and helps the environment.
“If it isn’t helping reduce waste, then we need to make changes.”
Michael Walters is one of the candidates who said he will change the bylaw.
“I’ll cancel the (paper) bag fee that’s just adding to grocery bills and having a minimal impact on climate,” he said on Tuesday while announcing a series of affordability changes he would push for as mayor.
Rahim Jaffer, who has not filed his official paperwork with the City of Edmonton but is campaigning to be mayor, said the bag tax was always a mistake.
“We need city council to stop making everything more expensive and actually make life more affordable for once. That’s exactly what my plan will do.”
Another candidate, Ronald Stewart Billingsley Jr., said he would continue the single-use plastic bylaw with possible revisions, “such as bringing back free paper bags in grocery stores.
“It is easy to forget your reusable bags, and paper should be an option, as it is recyclable.”
No one likes paper straws, candidate Paul Bakhmut said, calling the bylaw red tape that frustrates residents and small businesses.
“Edmonton deserves enjoyable sustainability that makes life easier, not annoying sustainability that feels like a penalty,” Bakhmut said.
Mayoral candidate Vanessa Denman also said she would push to repeal the single-use plastics bylaw.
“It’s inconsistent, unfair, and even substitutes like paper straws contain PFAS ‘forever chemicals’ linked to health risks. Edmonton deserves real solutions that are practical, fair, and safe,” she said.
Are paper or bamboo straws better options than plastic?
But amid the backlash, there are some who still fight to keep plastic bags banned.
Long-time environmentalist Michael Kalmanovitch owned Earth’s General Store for years and now runs Earth’s Refillery. He said going back on the bylaw would be a waste.
“These people are interested in destroying our children’s futures by continuing with ad nauseam disposal containers coming out of our yin-yang,” he said.
Edmonton’s efficient waste disposal system may be to blame for the attitudes here, Kalmanovitch said, noting our trash isn’t left out on visibly front streets like in cities such as New York, London or parts of Toronto.
“We don’t think about waste in our culture because we don’t see it, because it gets cleaned up so quickly. But I think if people get an idea of how much waste the average person (creates), they might appreciate it a little bit more.”
Whether the bylaw is repealed or changed will be for the next Edmonton city council to decide. Election day is Monday, Oct. 20.