The city of Guelph in Canada is leading a charge to reduce plastic pollution with an ambitious and hopeful new policy.
According to GuelphToday.com, on Sept. 1, the Ontario city made history by enacting a first-of-its-kind bylaw encouraging eateries to accept clean reusable containers for both takeaways and leftovers.
This is an extension of a phased strategy tackling single-use items, with the aim of reducing Guelph's landfill contribution.
Landfills are notorious for being major producers of methane, a harmful gas that has more planet-warming potential than carbon dioxide. Single-use plastics, such as Styrofoam containers, won't degrade for hundreds of years, contributing to this problem as they remain in these waste sites.
The move to ban Styrofoam containers gives people more options for living healthily and sustainably, resulting in less waste and less exposure to toxic substances. It's great news for businesses, too, as they will be saving money on materials.
It's no secret that Styrofoam, the brand name for the white stuff commonly found in building insulation and packaging, isn't good for people or the planet.
According to Beyond Plastics, it is not biodegradable and is difficult and expensive to recycle. The key ingredient, styrene, has been identified as a probable carcinogen by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
Slowly but surely, the world is catching on to this. That's why California banned businesses from using it at the beginning of the year, a revolutionary move that shifted the responsibility for Styrofoam use from consumers to businesses. Washington state followed suit with an all-out ban in June.
Guelph's approach takes the ban one step further, encouraging both businesses and their customers to cut down on pollution and toxic exposure by offering safe and easy solutions that work for everyone.
When speaking to CBC in 2022 during an earlier phase of the single-use bylaw, Heather Connell, the manager of technical services with Guelph's solid waste resource, said: "People do want to stop using single-use items and are looking forward to ways they can do that."
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