WHEREAS the provincial government is showing a commitment to sustainability and the environment; AND WHEREAS packaging of products needs to be addressed, including developing methods for recycling Styrofoam and dealing with small plastic beverage bottlesnoting that glass bottles have a proven longer usage lifecycle: THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED that the UBCM request and work with the British Columbia government to develop strategies to reduce unnecessary packaging of all products in British Columbia.
Ministry of Environment The Province of British Columbia regulates industry-led product stewardship under the Recycling Regulation 2004, which makes producers responsible for the lifecycle management of their products. The Ministry of Environment has a service plan commitment to add two new product categories to the Regulation every three years. The Ministry of Environment notified stakeholders of a list of the next possible products in the summer of 2007. Packaging was one product category included within the circulated list. Packaging represents a significant fraction of municipal waste in the province. Over the past months the Ministry has been consulting with industry and the BC Product Stewardship Council, which draws its membership from municipalities across the province, to collaborate and consider solutions to packaging reduction and recycling. The Recycling Regulation makes producers and consumers responsible for the lifecycle management of end-of-life products. Government is considering expanding the scope of products regulated under the Recycling Regulation to include packaging, and is currently consulting with industry and local governments on this issue. We recognize the importance of working with all stakeholders, including local governments, and anticipate collaborating with both industry and local governments over the coming months to develop options to address unnecessary packaging waste. Any decisions on a provincial recycling system for packaging would be made in collaboration with industry and local governments. Government will likely be moving ahead with a provincial packaging recycling system; roll-out is anticipated to begin in late 2009 or early 2010.