‘It’s just bad policy,’ says UBC law professor Stepan Ward.
Is the B.C. Conservative Party grasping at straws?
The party this week posted a new slogan, saying “paper straws suck” with a promise to bring back single-use plastic items like straws and grocery bags if elected.
Conservative leader John Rustad said he would restore shopping bag choice, end bag fees at the grocery store, and bring back plastic straws and cutlery.
“The ban on plastic straws has been nothing but a nuisance for families and businesses across B.C.,” said Rustad, in a statement. “It hasn’t achieved any significant environmental goals, but it has certainly made life worse for people.”
Ian Tostenson, president of B.C. Restaurant and Food Services Association, doesn’t agree that plastic straw bans are a nuisance, and said restaurants probably would not go back to using plastic straws in drinks because most members are trying to be more environmental.
However, he said losing the bag fees would likely be welcomed by members because that cost is passed on to the customer.
“The one thing I can say unequivocally is that we all need to be doing what we can for the environment, and as an industry we’ve been moving away from plastic,” said Tostenson.
“From our point of view, I don’t see everybody going back to plastic straws even if they are sturdier than paper because the demand isn’t there.”
Stepan Wood, a law professor at UBC’s Allard School of Law, called it “just bad policy,” because it’s unlikely B.C. could reverse these laws when there are now federal bans on many single-use plastic items.
“I think the important question is, is it good policy to get rid of the single-use plastic ban? And I think the answer to that is pretty simple. No. Plastic pollution is becoming one of the biggest problems and we’ve got to do something about it urgently,” he said.
“I don’t think that either the federal or the provincial conservatives really want to do anything to reduce plastic pollution. I don’t think that they see that as political or policy priority, and so they just want to play to this freedom of choice idea.”
Wood suggested it’s more likely governments would want to keep the bans in place but maybe tweak them. For example, if the reusable bags at grocery stores are just a big of a problem as plastic bags, then that could be addressed separately.
Bringing back single-use plastic items would also go against global plans to reduce plastic in the environment, and against numerous scientific studies that show plastic is harming ocean wildlife and human health.
Plastic breaks down into microplastics, which have been shown to be in drinking water and in the air. Each day, the equivalent of 2,000 garbage trucks full of plastic are dumped into the world’s oceans, rivers and lakes, according to the United Nations Environment Programme.
Several B.C. municipalities, including Vancouver, have already banned single-use plastics. It has also become a focus for regional districts like Metro Vancouver that have zero-waste goals, which cannot be achieved with single-use plastic items winding up in landfills.
She said microplastics can affect marine animals’ hormone levels, cause low fertility and a decline in overall health, while the larger pieces of plastic — like straws, cutlery, bottles and bags — can fill up their bellies, leading to starvation.
Dodd said studies have shown traces of common synthetic polymers and microplastics in blood samples of human subjects. She said they are absorbed into the bloodstream through the digestive tract and the respiratory system by breathing air contaminated with microplastics.
She said this can lead to respiratory diseases such as asthma but also neurodegenerative disorders such as Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s diseases.