What will single use plastics ban mean for Thunder Bay's blue bag program? City says hard to tell

It's too early to tell what Ottawa's recently-announced proposed ban on single-use plastics will mean for Thunder Bay's blue bag curbside recycling program but the municipality's manager of the local recycling system says these are the types of conversations he expects to have with federal officials over the next two years.

The federal government proposed a ban on plastics starting in 2021 at the earliest. While many details still need to be finalized, banned items discussed so far could include things like straws, cutlery and bags. Thunder Bay's curbside recycling collection program uses blue plastic bags instead of reusable bins.

"It's a good question," Jason Sherband, the manager of Thunder Bay's solid waste and recycling services said. "Obviously plastic bags are a single use plastic ... there's certainly a number of municipalities across Canada that operate a blue bag program just like ours."

"You look at how we place garbage in garbage bags at the curb across this country ... again, I'm not sure how that's going to look, if there would be exemptions on those type of bags that are for the purpose of program management."

New rules drafted by the provincial government in Prince Edward Island around reducing plastic use are scheduled to come into effect in that province on July 1. Those laws give an exemption for blue bags, allowing their continued use.

"I think it's early on to know what that impact would be, if any," Sherband said.

Proposed new Ontario rules

Adding to that uncertainty, Sherband said, is another recent announcement — this one by the Ford government, who said it is looking into making plastics and packaging producers responsible for the recycling system in Ontario.

That could mean a standardized system across all municipalities, instead of the patchwork that currently exists, with different cities able to recycle different things and using different ways to collect them.

"There may be at a point in the future where we're moving away from blue bags anyway, just from that perspective," Sherband said, adding that yet another layer to the issue in Thunder Bay is that the municipality's contract with GFL Environmental — the company that handles recycling collection and processing for the city — is set to expire in June, 2020; the city is expecting to put the contract out for bidding this year.

"It gives us an opportunity to look at some alternate collection methods as well," Sherband said. "Whether those are financially viable, we'll see, but it certainly gives us that opportunity."

"The program is blue bag today, but could it change in the future? It's certainly a possibility."

But as for how Ottawa's plan will impact blue bag collection in Thunder Bay, Sherband said those are the types of questions he expects will be at the core of consultative talks over the next couple of years.

"We've got, I think, a few years here before ... anything would take effect; I think there's going to be a lot of consultation that's going to happen over the next year or two," he said.

"When I look at this today, I don't think this is going to, in any way, impact how we're moving forward."