The idea of banning single-use plastic is now on the Regional District of the Central Okanagan’s radar.
“It’s just to try and help the region, one of those things that concerned us was… environment and just a general frustration with the inability to do things that will make a difference to our local climate,” said Charlie Hodge, a Kelowna councillor and district board director.
During a strategic planning meeting this week, board members tossed around ideas to be more environmentally conscious.
“We looked at the possibilities of coming up with perhaps some guidelines or ideas on how we reduce the impact of uses of plastic and there’s a number of things we looked at including working with grocery stores and what we can do to reduce plastic in terms of bags,” Hodge said.
“If you go to the grocery store, even if it’s organic, everything is wrapped in plastic. There’s sort of an irony there, here we are buying healthy food that’s wrapped in plastic.
“The idea was basically what could we do to help in probe the environment and rather than (waiting for everyone else) maybe we just need to be bold and initiate some steps forward.”
Jodie Foster, manager of corporate communications with the regional district, said the Regional District of North Okanagan has also been discussing a ban on single-use plastics.
READ MORE: Regional District of North Okanagan looks at single-use plastic ban
Banning single-use plastic was also listed in the district’s Solid Waste Management Plan, which was filed with the province in 2018 and will be a part of the district’s annual budget, to be presented to the board Feb. 21.
The district is also revisiting a study which will look at the feasibility of a food waste program. The cost for the re-evaluation is $40,000 and the study, if approved, will take place over the next few years.
READ MORE: Kelowna regional district looking at plan for food waste
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