Plastic pollution
15- What action will you take to support the District’s motion to regulate single-use Plastics? And what single-use Plastics do you think should be focused on first?
Al Anderson
Tofino has achieved much towards the elimination of plastics in the waste stream by the efforts of volunteers, namely Surfrider, and the voluntary reduction by businesses. Recycling is amazing compared to what it was through our participation and support at the regional level. As a community we have a high level of contamination of our recyclables making them un-reusable. I think council could build awareness around recycling. Council should continue to support and work with volunteer organizations and coordinate with their campaigns wherever possible. A plastic bag ban is easily achievable but cleaning up our sorting in the recycling bin will go much further.
Andrea McQuade
In my role as a director of Clayoquot CleanUp, I’ve seen first hand the impact of single use plastics on our coastline. The logistics of creating, funding and deploying remote beach clean ups doesn’t come cheap or easy - but it is necessary. I take a similar approach to legislation limiting single use beverage containers. I don’t think it will be cheap, I don’t think it will be easy, but I think there is room for Tofino to become an international example of what can happen when a community as a whole decides to act for the better.
Britt Chalmers
I am supportive of decreasing the use of all single use plastics. I would love to see water bottles banned, but I believe it is beyond the control of the municipality, although not certain and would need to educate myself more. I think educating the public, supporting surf rider and looking into plays where we can be effective are important.
Chris Heisterman
This has been a great effort to not only reduce waste, but raise awareness, and change the culture of how we approach it. I have supported, and consulted with Lilly Woodbury and Surfrider- Pacific Rim Chapter amongst other engaged environmental groups and will continue to do so!
Craig Heber
As Councillor I'd advocate that all residents and business adopt practises that remove single use plastics from the peninsula. Their are alternatives like utilizing bamboo, glass and other non fossil fuel products and would promote Tofino adopting using them at home and in business. I think we need to target not just one but all the worst offenders that are now known to be the biggest plastic pollution in the ocean and take them all on. It's the fossil fuel product that is the problem and the idea that the ocean can absorb all that pollution without dire consequences.
Dorothy Baert
I defer to the excellent work of Surfrider and other organizations such as Clayoquot Clean-up, that are addressing the issue of plastics. Their work informs the community, visitors and helps Council in its policy considerations.
Duncan McMaster
Personally, we discontinued using plastic bags since visiting Key West 7 years ago where plastic bags were banned. The next focus should be on plastic water bottles, which litter the world from desert to ocean. Many of our visitors to Tofino are not used to having safe tap water and purchasing a bottle of water to drink is second nature to them. Education and a ban on plastic water bottles would help locally, but will likely not change habits when visitors return home.
Eric Kingsley
Single use plastic is the bane of life. The more of it we can eliminate the better. I would support much stricter bylaws about single use plastics, from bags to coffee lids to take away containers and straws.
Jarmo Venalainen
I would take action which was proposed by a person or persons in Tofino, if it was also established that such action was the will of the community.
Jason Brown
I think it is a great idea to get rid of single use plastics and is long overdue. I think the first single use plastic to focus on would be forks and knives, from there moving onto disposable containers and ensure that reusable or biodegradable containers are being used. Also I would encourage a program aimed at educating visitors and residents on the benefits of bringing a reusable container when ordering food.
Josie Osborne
I brought forward the motion to Council that the District establish a Single-Use Item Regulation Bylaw, and I was really happy to receive unanimous support for it. We await a staff report on next steps – but in the meantime, I am in regular communication with Surfrider Pacific Rim about their observations and learning as much as possible about successes and challenges other municipalities face in eliminating single-use items. Regulation should be the last step in a series of actions to change our behaviours, so in my opinion, we’ll see the most success addressing items that the majority of Tofino residents and business are already voluntarily eliminating – the top three to me are single-use shopping bags, plastic straws, and styrofoam takeout food containers. With changing habits, increased awareness, more widely available alternatives, new items can be added in time.
Stephanie Hugues
It needs to happen! The Country my husband is from, (Chile) has banned the use of single use plastic bags on the entire coastline of the country. I support the District’s motion and believe that we can champion the banning of single-use plastic bags, single-use bottles, single-use take-away containers, and single use drinking containers/straws.
Stephen Ashton
I fully support the banning of plastic bags. As a society, we must start making some changes to our lifestyles. I also support increasing the refund of returnable bottles. If bottled water had a $1 deposit, there would be none on our beaches.
Tom Stere
I begin in my personal, everyday use and decisions as a consumer and would vote to support further motions. I am very appreciative of our local organizations helping to clean up our oceans and lands and would support them in any way we could as a District.
In consultation with our community groups on the ground on these issues to give practical advice on the best direction on the priority focus.