Plastic proposal costly Green plan would force consumers to fork over plenty of green if idea passes
As if Toronto wasn't already expensive enough. How about paying $400 more for food every year?
That's what a plastic packaging reduction plan being considered today by the city's public works committee would mean for the average Toronto household, according to industry experts.
The Environment and Plastics Industry Council (EPIC) said yesterday the new measures -- if approved by council later this month -- would cost businesses in Toronto an additional $300 million a year, which would be passed on to the consumer.
"What Toronto is proposing leads to hidden food costs. At the end of the day, it's going to increase costs (for businesses) to over $300 million," EPIC vice-president Cathy Cirko said. "What's going to happen in terms of those added costs? Since retailers have to remain competitive, they're going to have to pass them on."
The broad packaging reduction plan, made public last week, would force coffee shops to come up with a new cup and lid -- either all plastic, all paper, or styrofoam -- that the city can more easily recycle, or face a $100 to $400 per transaction fine.
The plan, which introduces plastic shopping bags and polystyrene products into the recycling program, would also force retailers to give customers discounts of at least 20 cents for using refillable cups, and at least 10 cents for every plastic bag they don't use.
Restaurants would also need to develop reusable or refillable take-out food containers, and plastic water bottles would be phased out from city-owned facilities by 2011.
While Councillor Glenn De Baeremaeker, who chairs the public works committee, said earlier the city has the authority to impose the new measures "respecting the environmental well-being of the city" under the City of Toronto Act, others are not so sure.
"I think we're on very weak legal footing," Councillor Denzil Minnan-Wong said. "The city doesn't have the legal authority to set prices for coffee, which is what they're doing."
Minnan-Wong, along with councillors Karen Stintz and Peter Milczyn, is urging the city to refer the report back to staff for further review and consultations with the stakeholder industries.
Stintz said now is the wrong time to impose "an overly far-reaching political and bureaucratic program," on local businesses that she said won't help achieve the city's goal of diverting 70% of its waste from landfills by 2010.
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