(Montreal) The by-law prohibiting certain single-use items comes into effect on March 28 in Montreal. The City claims to support the 8,400 food businesses and restaurants in this ecological transition.
From March 28, cups, glasses, stir sticks, straws, plastic utensils, whether compostable or not, will be prohibited in food stores and restaurants.
Plastic cups, glasses, straws and stirrers will also be prohibited for take-out orders and deliveries. As for utensils, they will be allowed if the customer requests them.
The ban also applies to the following polystyrene (#6) or compostable (#7) plastic products, whether on-site or to take away: plates, containers, lids, trays (except those for raw meat and fish) and utensils .
“Reducing residual materials at source must be a priority for everyone, for the benefit of future generations”, explained the head of ecological transition and the environment within the executive committee, to recall the reasons for this regulation.
Marie-Andrée Mauger had invited the media to a restaurant in the city center on Thursday morning.
“While the only landfill center in the Montreal region will have reached its full capacity in 2029, we have no choice, collectively, to accelerate reduction at the source,” added the one who is also an advisor to borough in Verdun.
“We must respect the limits of ecosystems. If everyone lived like us in Montreal, Quebec, it would take four planets to support the rate at which we consume resources,” said the elected official, specifying that the 19 boroughs of the city of Montreal are targeted by the new regulation.
Marie-Andrée Mauger also hopes that it will make it possible to beautify the city.
“We notice that our bins, in the streets and parks, are full and littered with single-use items. »
Up to $4000 fine
The Plante administration said the city’s 8,400 food businesses and restaurants have been educated and informed in different ways since the bylaw was passed 18 months ago.
For example, “a call campaign” via the Affaires Montréal telephone line was launched and leaflets were distributed.
City inspectors will be able to give notices of violations during the first visit, but from the second violation, merchants are exposed to fines ranging from $400 to $4,000.
“We don’t expect that on day one there will be no banned items in circulation. We are going to show a certain tolerance, give traders time to sell their stock, because we do not want this regulation to generate waste, ”explained Marie-Andrée Mauger.
However, it did not specify what would be a “reasonable stock run-down time.”
An impact on costs
The head of ecological transition and the environment on the executive committee acknowledged that the new regulations will probably have an impact on the cost of meals in restaurants.
“According to a study carried out in 2021, this regulation will cause an increase in the cost of ordering from restaurants, between 5 and 10 cents,” mentioned Ms.me Mauger, indicating in the same breath that “customers are ready to accept a slight increase in price to have a reusable item”.
The new regulation does not apply to non-profit food aid organizations, establishments that only offer a home delivery service such as caterers. It also does not apply to food prepackaged outside the establishment.
Also, the regulation does not apply to plastic-coated cups, glasses and cardboard containers (compostable or not).
Rules to follow across the country
The federal government has also decided to reduce the use of single-use plastic items at the source.
Since last December, companies can no longer produce or import various categories of single-use plastic into Canada: shopping bags, utensils, stir sticks, straws and take-out food containers, including those made from polystyrene foam.
In a few months, it will be illegal to sell these products.
Next June, the ban on manufacture and importation will extend to rings used to be placed around drinks in order to transport several at a time. Their sale will then be prohibited from the summer of 2024.