The days are numbered for plastic shopping bags in P.E.I.
On Thursday, a bill Liberal MLA Al Roach has been championing passed through committee of the whole house with unanimous support, making its passing into law a near certainty.
With the bill moving on, Roach agreed with a motion Opposition MLA Steven Myers proposed to have a legislative committee look into reducing other single-use plastic in P.E.I.
“This was kind of like the worst offender, and that’s what we were trying to get on the table and get caught up, I suppose, in some ways with the rest of the world and then to move on from there,” he said.
If the bill passes through third reading, which could happen as soon as today, the penalties for violating it won’t come into effect until Jan. 1, 2020, to give businesses enough time to use up their supplies of plastic bags.
Myers tabled his motion Thursday after MLAs agreed to the bill and listed examples of other forms of single-use plastic that end up in landfills, including the lids off coffee cups and disposable cutlery.
“While I support the bag bill and I did vote in favour of it, I think we have to do more to be a leading province for environmental acts in this country and we can do it right here in Prince Edward Island,” he said.
The motion called for a legislative committee to come up with a list of recommendations to help develop a plan for reducing the amount of single-use plastic in P.E.I. besides shopping bags.
It passed unanimously.
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