The court battle over Victoria鈥檚 ban on single-use plastic bags has reached a dead end.
The Supreme Court of Canada on Thursday declined to hear the city鈥檚 appeal of a lower court decision that struck down its bylaw.
As is typical, the court provided no reasons for its decision.
Mayor Lisa Helps said the result did not come as a shock, since the Supreme Court only hears a fraction of the appeals it receives.
鈥淪o of course we鈥檙e disappointed, but not surprised,鈥� she told reporters at city hall. 鈥淗owever, we鈥檙e already determining our next steps, which are to apply to the province with our initial bylaw, asking them to approve it.鈥�
The city will also ask聽for legislative changes so that it doesn鈥檛 require provincial approval to ban other single-use items in the future, and can manage its own waste.
Despite the court defeat, Helps said the city鈥檚 Checkout Bag Regulation Bylaw has been a success, stopping more than 17聽million plastic bags from reaching the landfill.
鈥淲e have started a movement,鈥� she said. 鈥淭here were dozens of local governments across the province that followed us and banned plastic bags, that are banning single-use cups.鈥�
Even with the bylaw struck down by the courts, many of the city鈥檚 retailers are operating as if it were still in effect, she said.
Under the bylaw, businesses were barred from providing customers with single-use plastic bags and instead had to charge 15聽cents for a paper bag or $1 for a reusable bag.
The Canadian Plastic Bag Association, which represents manufacturers and distributors of plastic shopping bags, launched a court challenge before the bylaw took effect in July 2018.
Victoria won in B.C. Supreme Court, but lost at the B.C. Court of Appeal, which found that the primary purpose of Victoria鈥檚 bylaw was to protect the natural environment rather than to regulate business. As such, the city should have sought provincial approval for the bylaw, but failed to do so, the court said.
Craig Foster, who speaks for the plastic bag association, welcomed the Supreme Court of Canada鈥檚 decision not to hear Victoria鈥檚 appeal.
鈥淚 think we鈥檙e glad it鈥檚 over,鈥� he said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 been a distraction from Day 1 鈥� the whole legal discussion about who had the authority. So it鈥檚 over and now we can get back to business.鈥�
Victoria pursued the appeal even as the federal and provincial governments contemplate their own bans on single-use plastics. The province is poised to bring in new regulations this year, while the federal government announced last June that it will ban plastic bags and other items as early as 2021.
Foster said his association has been working with the province on how to improve the existing system in B.C.
鈥淨uite frankly, there鈥檚 very few places in the world you can go to where you鈥檝e got over 400 retail stores that take the plastic shopping bag back and we do in B.C.,鈥� he said.
鈥淚 find it really hard to understand how the existing system, as good as it is, gets lost in all these conversations.鈥�
The association argues that bylaws such as the one implemented by Victoria can have unintended consequences.
鈥淲e have a major push to put reusable bags into the system,鈥� Foster said. 鈥淲hat鈥檚 got lost is those reusable bags are going to wind up in the trash because they鈥檙e not recyclable. There鈥檚 no place they can be recycled. So when they wear out 鈥� and they do wear out 鈥� they鈥檝e got to go in the trash.鈥�
Helps disagreed with that analysis.
鈥淥bviously, they鈥檙e pushing forward their industry,鈥� she said. 鈥淩ecycling is not enough. What we really want to get to is a circular zero-waste economy.
鈥淪o what we鈥檒l eventually see is those resuable bags being made out of materials that, when they鈥檙e聽finished, they can just be put into the backyard compost and composted. So we鈥檝e got a long way to go.鈥�
鈥� with a file from Bill Cleverley
