Plastic waste

The B.C. government brought in new regulations at the start of 2023 that expanded the list of items that can be recycled through blue bin and depot programs. Some are calling for more to be done in quelling the amount of single-use items making it to market. (Jake Romphf/News Staff)

Groups want plastic waste reduced at the source as B.C. expands recycling list

Environment minister says more single-use bans being looked at as more plastic regulations coming

 

Food is packaged into a polystyrene foam box in Honolulu in a Thursday, March 14, 2019 file photo. Restaurants have been going through months of trial and error in preparation for the phase-in of a federal plastics ban that will eventually aim to remove many single-use plastics, such as takeout containers, from the market altogether. THE CANADIAN PRESS/AP-Audrey McAvoy

Restaurants debut new takeout ware amid phase-in of single-use plastics ban

Recyclable fibre lids, bamboo cutlery and paper straws among alternatives being tested out

 

Paper straws are seen at a market in Montreal on Thursday, June 13, 2019. Canada’s ban on the manufacture and import for sale of some plastic items, including grocery bags and straws, has taken effect.THE CANADIAN PRESS/Paul Chiasson

Manufacturing, importing straws and other single-use plastics now banned

Plastic checkout bags, cutlery, stir sticks, straws and takeout containers can’t be made in Canada

 

FILE - A swan stands between dumped plastic bottles and waste at the Danube river in Belgrade, Serbia, April 18, 2022. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic, File)

Watchdog group casts doubt on Amazon’s claims of reducing plastic

Oceana estimates Amazon’s plastic waste jumped from 599 million pounds in 2020 to 709 million

FILE - A swan stands between dumped plastic bottles and waste at the Danube river in Belgrade, Serbia, April 18, 2022. (AP Photo/Darko Vojinovic, File)
Federal Minister of Environment and Climate Change Steven Guilbeault, announces the ban of single-use plastics, at a beach, on Monday, June 20, 2022 in Quebec City. Federal Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos, behind, looks on. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jacques Boissinot

New stats suggest Canadians already kicking some plastic habits as national ban looms

By Dec. 20, it will no longer be legal to manufacture or import most plastic shopping bags or straws

Federal Minister of Environment and Climate Change Steven Guilbeault, announces the ban of single-use plastics, at a beach, on Monday, June 20, 2022 in Quebec City. Federal Health Minister Jean-Yves Duclos, behind, looks on. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Jacques Boissinot
Minister of Environment and Climate Change Strategy George Heyman and local MLA Brittny Anderson tour KC Recycling’s plastic recycling plant. Photo: Submitted

West Kootenay company partners to ‘Close the Loop’ for recycled plastic

KC Recycling is currently recycling over 2,000MT annually of polypropylene

Minister of Environment and Climate Change Strategy George Heyman and local MLA Brittny Anderson tour KC Recycling’s plastic recycling plant. Photo: Submitted
L-R: Faculty assistant Shawn Curran and Brad Pommen, aka “Mr. Technology.” Photo: Submitted

Innovation meets reuse in West Kootenay’s Metal Tech Alley

Lower Columbia businesses exemplify circular economy in action

  • Oct 24, 2022
L-R: Faculty assistant Shawn Curran and Brad Pommen, aka “Mr. Technology.” Photo: Submitted
Plastic straws are pictured in Vancouver on Monday, June 4, 2018. More than two dozen plastic makers are asking the Federal Court to put an end to Ottawa’s plan to ban several single-use plastic items including straws, cutlery and takeout containers. THE CANADIAN PRESS Jonathan Hayward

Plastics producers ask court to quash planned federal ban on single-use straws, cups

Feds using Environmental Protection Act to ban the sale, import and production of six plastic items

Plastic straws are pictured in Vancouver on Monday, June 4, 2018. More than two dozen plastic makers are asking the Federal Court to put an end to Ottawa’s plan to ban several single-use plastic items including straws, cutlery and takeout containers. THE CANADIAN PRESS Jonathan Hayward
Hailey Davies and Wendy Fleming seining for fish collections in Coles Bay near the Pauqachin First Nation. (Courtesy of Kieran Cox)

Study dives into microplastic movement in Vancouver Island marine food webs

Wide variety of species ingest microplastics, but biomagnification not found

Hailey Davies and Wendy Fleming seining for fish collections in Coles Bay near the Pauqachin First Nation. (Courtesy of Kieran Cox)
As plastic continues to pollute the ocean, Oceana Canada is calling on the government action (credit Oceana Canada/Elemental).

Plastic predicament: Federal group urges action on packaging legislation in Canada

Oceana Canada is calling on the government to reduce the amount of harmful single-use plastics

As plastic continues to pollute the ocean, Oceana Canada is calling on the government action (credit Oceana Canada/Elemental).
Burnaby vet technician Jocelyn Marsh shows off part of her pill bottle return program. (Jane Skrypnek/Black Press Media)

B.C. veterinarian has plan to eliminate millions of pieces of plastic from Canadian clinics

Very simple changes can have a large impact if adopted broadly, Jocelyn Marsh says

Burnaby vet technician Jocelyn Marsh shows off part of her pill bottle return program. (Jane Skrypnek/Black Press Media)
The move to ban single-use plastics will prevent 33 billion units of forks, bags, six-pack rings and other plastics from landfills. (Photo by THE CANADIAN PRESS)

Single-use plastic ban a ‘monumental’ step in protecting Canada’s oceans: advocate

Canada is planning phased-in ban on the manufacture, import, sale and export of plastics

The move to ban single-use plastics will prevent 33 billion units of forks, bags, six-pack rings and other plastics from landfills. (Photo by THE CANADIAN PRESS)
Bioform’s Rami Younes (right) and Jordan MacKenzie (left) showing a sheet of the bioplastic. (Credit: Kai Jacobson/UBC Applied Science)

UBC scientists aim to put plastic in the past with 2 new inventions

Biodegradable product could replace plastic, unique coating could extend its life

Bioform’s Rami Younes (right) and Jordan MacKenzie (left) showing a sheet of the bioplastic. (Credit: Kai Jacobson/UBC Applied Science)
A man walks on a mountain of plastic bottles as he carries a sack of them to be sold for recycling after weighing them at the dump in the Dandora slum of Nairobi, Kenya on Dec. 5, 2018. The UN Environment Assembly unanimously voted in March to start to create a legally binding global treaty to address plastic pollution in the world’s oceans, rivers and landscape. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis, File)

B.C. watches as California subpoenas plastic industry over waste, alleged deception

University of Victoria law expert says recycling used by plastic producers to deceive public

A man walks on a mountain of plastic bottles as he carries a sack of them to be sold for recycling after weighing them at the dump in the Dandora slum of Nairobi, Kenya on Dec. 5, 2018. The UN Environment Assembly unanimously voted in March to start to create a legally binding global treaty to address plastic pollution in the world’s oceans, rivers and landscape. (AP Photo/Ben Curtis, File)
Visitors and locals can help reduce their own plastic consumption by carrying re-usable cutlery sets like these ones available at the Tourism Tofino Cox Bay Visitor Centre. (Nora O’Malley photo)

Tofino 1st in B.C. to ban single-use plastic cutlery

The amended bylaw includes banning plastic spoons, forks, knives, chopsticks and stir sticks

Visitors and locals can help reduce their own plastic consumption by carrying re-usable cutlery sets like these ones available at the Tourism Tofino Cox Bay Visitor Centre. (Nora O’Malley photo)
Oceans Cleanup CEO and founder Bayon Slat speaks to the crowd in front of their vessel’s crew members on Wednesday, Oct. 20. (Kiernan Green/News Staff)

Ocean Cleanup returns to B.C. with its first dent out of the Great Pacific Garbage Patch

Victoria in the running as company looks for a base of operations to meet its 2040 goal

Oceans Cleanup CEO and founder Bayon Slat speaks to the crowd in front of their vessel’s crew members on Wednesday, Oct. 20. (Kiernan Green/News Staff)
Myles Peterson is making plastic panels that can replace plywood. Photo: Submitted

Young Castlegar entrepreneur turning plastics into building materials

Myles Peterson is making plastic panels that can replace plywood

Myles Peterson is making plastic panels that can replace plywood. Photo: Submitted
Campfire-grilled steak on a peach, spinach salad. Meal prep kits even work in the backcountry, as proven by this industrious camper. (Marg Leehane photo)

B.C.-based meal kit company headed for zero-waste

Meal kits have exploded during the pandemic, with lots of packaging

Campfire-grilled steak on a peach, spinach salad. Meal prep kits even work in the backcountry, as proven by this industrious camper. (Marg Leehane photo)
Environment and Climate Change Minister Jonathan Wilkinson speaks during a news conference announcing the ban of specific plastic products Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2020 in Gatineau, Que. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld

Plastics industry says its products are not ‘toxic’, urges govt to rethink label

Environment Minister Jonathan Wilkinson announced six single-use plastic items that will be banned

Environment and Climate Change Minister Jonathan Wilkinson speaks during a news conference announcing the ban of specific plastic products Wednesday, Oct. 7, 2020 in Gatineau, Que. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Adrian Wyld
Minister of Environment and Climate Change Jonathan Wilkinson answers a question during question period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick

Straws, stir sticks and bags among first targets of countrywide plastics ban

Canada intends to add plastics to a list of toxic items under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act

Minister of Environment and Climate Change Jonathan Wilkinson answers a question during question period in the House of Commons on Parliament Hill in Ottawa on Tuesday, Oct. 6, 2020. THE CANADIAN PRESS/Sean Kilpatrick