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'I FIND IT DISGUSTING THAT WE'RE SO ARROGANT WITH THE EARTH'

THE FIRST PHASE OF THE FEDERAL PLASTIC BAN BEGAN ON DEC. 20

ABBY GREEN

Many Niagara-based restaurants and bakeries have been keeping their waste output topof-mind since they started, so the federal ban on single-use plastics is welcome.

Carolyn Bernacci, owner of Niagara-on-the-Lake's Plant No. 1, said the restaurant's whole meaning is to be eco-friendly, and vegan.

"The basic mandate was plantbased food and with as little waste as possible and eliminating everything we can that we think is unnecessary to consume," said Bernacci. "We really make a concerted effort to keep waste to an absolute minimum."

Bernacci has been able to have

everything in her business, even down to the labels, be compostable.

She said as a human being, it's always been important to her to minimize waste.

"I find it disgusting that we're so arrogant with the Earth," she said. "It just breaks my heart because, we're part of this Earth, we're not separate, and we don't have the right to pollute it. Some pollution is inherent just with humans being on the face of the Earth and being who we are, but the amount of it is completely unacceptable."

In an attempt to cut back on the amount of plastic waste created in Canada, the federal government is instituting a ban on single-use plastics.

The first phase of the federal law began on Dec. 20, which prohibits the manufacturing and import-for-sale of single-use plastics, such as: grocery store checkout bags; cutlery; takeout containers made partially or fully from plastic, including Styrofoam, carbon black and oxo-degradable plastic; stir sticks; and drinking straws.

December 2023 will see a ban on the sale of all these products, and in December 2025 a ban on the manufacture, import and export for sale will come into effect.

St. Catharines MP Chris Bittle said the decision for the ban was made because, ultimately, there's too much plastic waste.

"It's not good for our health, and it's not good for the environment," he said. "We need to find a way to reduce that, and this is a start."

In St. Catharines, Jan

Campbell-Luxton, owner of De La Terre bakery in St. Catharines, said he's always tried to minimize the waste his businesses create.

"When I came up through kitchens, one of the really horrifying things about professional kitchens is the volume of waste is just staggering," he said. "I wouldn't claim to have sort of solved that problem, but we're working on it constantly."

He opened his Geneva Street bakery in 2019, but had locations in Fonthill and Vineland prior.

De La Terre bakes everything they sell from scratch. At their previous locations, Campbell-Luxton said they had giant windows so people could see the bakers at work.

He said he's looking forward to not having to use plastic at all.

"I look forward to (single-use plastic) banning. Honestly, I would love to have it not as an option," he said. "That's one of the challenges of running a business, is you're sort of stuck between your principles and your ethics, and the realities of what the market demands."

Both Campbell-Luxton and Bernacci expressed hopes that, once the ban is in effect, Canadian manufacturers will get more creative.

"I think part of the impetus for the legislation is that once you have the legislation in place, the hope is that the market will step up and there'll be some very interesting solutions to this," said Campbell-Luxton. "You force creativity on entrepreneurs. So I look forward to seeing what comes along."

"It's only a small start," said Bernacci. "But there's a whole bigger picture here, and part of it is overconsumption and the other part that has to be done is at a corporate level. All the big industries that are producing packaging, they all have to change ... There's just there's such a long way to go, but it's going in the right direction."

STORY BEHIND THE STORY: With parts of the single-use plastic ban coming into effect, reporter Abby Green wanted to speak with local restaurants that are already trying to reduce their waste.

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2023-01-26T08:00:00.0000000Z

2023-01-26T08:00:00.0000000Z

https://communitynews.pressreader.com/article/281479280546574

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