Centre for Civic Governance

Every piece of plastic that has ever been produced still exists, a Rossland-based environmentalist told city council recently.

It's a legacy no one wants to leave behind, said Tracey Saxby, science communication and education consultant with Greener Footprints.

Saxby asked Nelson city council in the committee of the whole meeting March 23 to consider reducing and eliminating plastic bag use in the city in an effort to limit plastic's impact on the environment.

"(Plastic bags) are single use items that we use for convenience but they will be around for a long time," she said. "We need to start looking at the way we do things, to focus on the reduce part first."

Saxby said it is important to start reducing the amount of resources society uses and plastic bags could be the focal point to raise this issue.

Last year Saxby brought a similar idea to Rossland city council and the city instituted an extensive educational campaign and voluntary reduction, developing partnerships between 95 per cent of the city's retailers, governments, schools and community groups.

The net result was plastic bag use dropped by 75 per cent in the city in 2008, Saxby said. She is now working with 16 communities across BC and Alberta on reducing their plastic bag use.

In Nelson Saxby proposed creating partnerships as well, delivering a unique bag to every household in the city and implementing an extensive education program through posters and brochures.

She asked city council to consider writing a letter of support for the initiative to the retailers and let them know that this will be going ahead in the city. As well, Saxby asked council to set a plastic bag reduction target and requested funding to support the initiative (budget to be set).

Council did not decide whether to support the initiative.

Greener Footprints was co-founded in 2006 by Saxby to reduce the use of plastic shopping bags across Canada.