It is soon going to become more expensive for Edmontonians who want to grab takeout. Effective July 1, the City of Edmonton said a new paper bag will cost 25 cents and a new reusable bag will be $2 at businesses across the city. “The fee goes to businesses to help recoup costs, and the savings go to the environment,” tweeted the City of Edmonton on Wednesday..Edmonton city council said in 2022 its single-use items bylaw will help reduce waste by targeting items that can be avoided or replaced with reusable options.READ MORE: Edmonton new Single-use Item Reduction Bylaw will go into effect on July 1Effective 2023, the bylaw would go into effect. By enacting the bylaw, the City of Edmonton said it would regulate single-use items to reduce waste, increase recycling and other waste management strategies, and encourage the use of reusable alternatives. The City of Edmonton went on to say its single-use items bylaw “helps reduce waste by targeting items such as shopping bags, cups and straws that can easily be avoided or replaced with reusable options.”“The goal is to reduce single-use items, not to switch from plastic items to non-plastic items,” it said. Until June 30, the minimum fee is 15 cents for a paper bag and $1 for a new reusable bag.It said businesses keep these fees to offset costs. It added people can avoid the fees by bringing their own bags. Free useable bags are available at the Reuse Centre. Some stores have take a bag/leave a bag policies, where people can get free reuseable bags or leave those they no longer need. The City of Edmonton concluded by saying charging a fee for shopping bags is a successful practice used to reduce waste in cities such as San Francisco, Vancouver, Victoria, and Banff. A minimum fee of 25 cents for a paper shopping bag is common, as lower ones have been shown to result in slower behaviour change.“The higher fee for reusable bags reflects the higher environmental cost of producing and shipping them compared to paper,” it said. “However, some reusable bags can have a positive environmental impact after as few as 11 uses.”Calgary city council repealed its single-use items bylaw in a 12-3 vote on May 7. READ MORE: UPDATED: Single use bylaw repealed by Calgary council by 12-3 voteCalgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek voted in favour of the repeal. The councillors who voted in favour of repeal were Sonya Sharp, Jennifer Wyness, Jasmine Mian, Sean Chu, Raj Dhaliwal, Richard Pootmans, Terry Wong, Andre Chabot, Evan Spencer, Dan McLean, and Peter Demong. The councillors who voted no were Gian-Carlo Carra, Kourtney Penner, and Courtney Walcott.
