Whereas agriculture uses plastics to aid in crop production, protection, improve food quality and minimize water usage; And whereas thousands of tonnes of agricultural plastics are dumped at the landfill by farmers after its use: Therefore be it resolved that UBCM call on the Ministry of Agriculture and Ministry of Environment and Climate Change to set priority in resolving this problem by establishing a Plastics Recycling Program for agricultural plastics.
Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy The ministry acknowledges that the proper management of industrial, commercial and institutional ICI waste, which includes agricultural plastics, is a concern to many local governments. In September 2020 the ministry issued a Recycling Regulation Policy Intentions Paper that sought feedback on several items that were potential products to be captured under Extended Producer Responsibility EPR programs or other policy initiatives, including packaging and paper from the ICI sector. The feedback was consolidated in the Summary of Feedback Report and made publicly available in June 2021. The feedback helped inform the development of a Five-Year EPR Action Plan for EPR expansion in BC which was announced in September 2021. For ICI Paper and Packaged Product PPP, as a first step, there is broad support for collecting data to better understand both the current gaps in diversion practices for managing ICI PPP, as well as the best means to address such gaps. To this end, data collection is underway and Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy ENV anticipates completion of the study by April 2022. Engaging local government, and indigenous nations as part of ICI PPP research is key to our understanding of the challenges to diverting these materials. ENV appreciates that it may be several years before a long-term policy approach to ICI PPP is finalized and concerns with proper management of these materials continue. Therefore, following the completion of the ICI PPP study, ENV intends to engage rural and remote local governments and Indigenous government organizations that are facing similar challenges to jointly explore barriers and possible interim opportunities that could result in diversion of more ICI PPP over the short-term.