“Get rid of it”: Single-use items repeal law public hearing coming up

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A public hearing required to officially repeal Calgary's single-use bylaw will be held Tuesday, giving residents a chance to weigh in on the controversial new rules voted on by councilors last winter.

To repeal a bylaw, the council must follow the process it followed when adopting the original bylaw, according to the city. That means the council can't remove regulations after a 60-day notice and publicity period to allow for public feedback.

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Calgary council voted 10-5 to begin the process of repealing the law on Jan. 30, exactly two weeks after it took effect.

The new rules, which are still technically in effect, require grocery stores, restaurants and other food vendors to charge customers at least $0.15 for a paper bag or $1 for a new reusable cloth bag at the point of sale. Those rates would rise to $0.25 and $2, respectively, in 2025.

The law also requires consumers to ask for disposable items and food items such as napkins and plastic utensils.

In introducing the rule, city officials said the goal was to encourage Calgarians to bring their own reusable cloth bags and encourage them to send less waste to local landfills. Staff from the city's waste management and recycling team at a council meeting on January 30 More than 15 million single-use items are thrown away every week in Calgary.

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But the law immediately turned out to be unpopular. Many council members said they received hundreds of emails from constituents criticizing the new rules as confusing and ineffective.

“We're all for waste reduction, but we'd like to see other amendments,” said the 1st District. Sonya Sharp said after the January 30 meeting. “The best thing to do here is try to make a clean slate, cancel and start over.”

Waste reduction ideas may be revisited in the future

10th District on Monday. Andre Chabot said he doesn't expect much debate before the council puts the bill to bed. He said the council spent time discussing the importance of the law, and any proposed action to keep it would require another extensive notice period.

“There's really no way to do it again, try to fix it — it's a yes or no, top-down vote,” he said. “We deny it or deny it.

“What do you need?” The best thing is to leave it and start over.'

Mayor Jyoti Gondek, who was one of five people who voted to keep the ordinance on Jan. 30, said it's hard to predict how the public hearing will go.

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“Anytime we go into something that has a lot of public and council interest, it's hard to predict how the conversation will go,” he told reporters on Monday. “We're also on day 12 of another public hearing, so we'll have to see what happens (Tuesday). I'd like to hear from the public.”

Chabot said he expects council to revisit the topic of waste reduction in the future, but the city needs to come up with options that Calgarians can offer.

“Maybe something to look at from that point of view will come back, but for now the best solution — and one we've heard a lot from a lot of people — is to get rid of it,” he said.

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