Public hearings are underway on Calgary's single-use bylaw

Calgary City Council will officially begin the process of eliminating the city's single-use items with a public hearing on Tuesday.

The law requires businesses to charge 15 cents for a paper bag and one dollar for a reusable bag, and to provide cutlery and plastic containers only upon request.

The rule came into effect in January and has drawn considerable criticism.

The council voted 10-5 to begin the process of repealing the bylaw, which requires a public hearing in two weeks.

“Essentially there's a repeal (council) law, so there's no way to rework it, to fix it, it's a yes or no, up-down vote, we're going to repeal it or we're not going to,” Kuhn explained. Andre Chabot.

It comes a day after the longest hearing in Calgary's history – more than 700 people showed up at city council to voice their concerns and support the proposed blanket rezoning.

Chabot hopes the council will successfully strip the single-use rule.

“I think there will be other opportunities besides this regulation to reduce the amount of waste sent to the landfill,” he said. “Maybe something to look at from that point of view could come back, but I think the best solution and what we've heard from people is to get rid of it.

“If you want to try and start over, fine. But don't try to make a sausage in the council square, it won't work.

According to the city, about 15 million single-use items are landfilled every week.

– With files from Tiffany Goodwein