Richmond city council is looking at banning single-use plastic items including plastic bags and drinking straws.
Coun. Chak Au brought up the motion at Tuesday’s general purposes committee meeting, asking staff to “study the merits and practicability of banning single-use plastic items” in Richmond and coming back to council within 60 days with recommendations.
In his motion, Au pointed out that plastic bags are used on average for 20 minutes and yet take 400 years to break down. A motion was passed at Union Of BC Municipalities in September calling for a provincial ban on plastic bags.
Mayor Malcom Brodie suggested staff look at what Vancouver is doing and the studies they did, which took a long time, and use that information to inform Richmond how they can proceed.
The motion passed unanimously.
