HALIFAX—The city is moving ahead with its draft bylaw to ban single-use plastic bags as the federal government announces a plan to ban all single-use plastics across the country.

With the draft bylaw due by the end of the year, deputy mayor Tony Mancini says he thinks Halifax can implement its ban before the Trudeau government’s 2021 goal.

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announced a plan on Monday to ban “harmful” single-use plastics across Canada as early as 2021 and to make producers responsible to fund recycling programs for the products they make. Trudeau’s announcement did not include a list of specific products that will be banned, and he said decisions will be based on scientific analysis over the coming months.

Halifax regional council voted in January to direct staff to draft a bylaw to ban single-use plastic bags, rejecting the industry-preferred approach of a “voluntary ban,” where the city would work with the commercial and industrial sectors to reduce the use of “plastic carry-out bags, utensils, cups, containers, straws and other waste items.”

As chair of council’s environment committee, Mancini led the charge to ban plastic bags, and was excited to see the federal government’s announcement.

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“I still look forward to receiving that draft bylaw by the end of the year,” he said.

“We need to move forward on it. We can’t say, ‘OK we’re done.’ We’re far from done. We need to see this being put into place.”

In a statement, Halifax Regional Municipality spokesperson Brynn Langille said the draft bylaw will still be ready for council’s consideration “no later than December 2019.”

“It would be too early to say if there will be any changes, as we have yet to receive full details of today’s announcement by the federal government,” Langille wrote in an email.

The bylaw could pass second reading by the end of the year or in early 2020, well ahead of the federal government’s 2021 timeline, and Mancini believes the federal push could help swing councillors who voted no to his ban.

“Hopefully it makes it easier for (councillors) to accept, knowing that the feds are doing this, so I look forward to that conversation,” he said.

“If it does happen in 2021, great, and we can make adjustments at that point in time.”

Municipalities across Nova Scotia have signalled their intention to follow Halifax’s lead, and they had hoped, along with advocates and industry groups, that the provincial government would implement a blanket ban to ensure a consistent approach for businesses. But the provincial minister of environment said last fall the province won’t implement such a ban.

The issue has come to the forefront over recent years after China stopped accepting recycled film plastics like plastic bags, leaving municipalities, including Halifax, scrambling to find new markets for their waste. The problem is compounded here because film plastics aren’t permitted in landfills in Nova Scotia.

Asked where Halifax’s plastics end up, Langille said, “All plastics in the Halifax Regional Municipality are marketed domestically. Plastic bags are processed at Goodwood Plastics.”

In a news release on Monday, the local Ecology Action Centre (EAC) applauded the federal government’s announcement.

“Plastics are a toxin and should be regulated as such,” the release said.

“We tend not to consider plastic as a toxin as we would oil or other hazardous substances, but a plastic bag in the environment is just an oil spill in slow motion. Science is revealing the long-term impacts of microplastics on wildlife, the environment and now on human health.”

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The EAC noted the announcement lacked specifics and encouraged the federal government to work with provinces and municipalities.

“Canadians have clearly expressed their concern about plastic pollution,” the release said.

“EAC salutes all the groups and initiatives that have sprung up across Nova Scotia and Canada to reduce our use of plastics and prevent further plastic pollution and encourages further engagement and vigilance.”

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