B.C. govt. tells City of Chilliwack that fast food outlets must charge for takeout paper bags, no exceptions

Tara Friesen, manager of environmental services for the City of Chilliwack, told council members Tuesday that the city had received complaints from the community about the 15-cent paper bag fee.

“Our Single-Use Item Reduction Bylaw came into effect in April of this year,” Friesen said. “Overall, it has received very strong support from the public. However, we have received some complaints and concerns about the fee being charged for paper bags at drive-through establishments. There is a provincial regulation that dictates what needs to be included, if a municipality chooses to have a single-use item reduction bylaw.”

Friesen indicated the paper bag fees collected by retail establishments stay with the business and are not collected by the municipality. Staff were previously asked to explore whether fast food establishments could be exempted from charging paper bag fees seeing as how the paper bags are recyclable.

Image: Screenshot, chilliwack.com website / Tara Friesen, manager of environmental services for the City of Chilliwack, said there is no exemption right now for drive-through, fast food restaurants to not charge a 15-cent paper bag fee to customers.

“Staff has contacted the [B.C.] Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategies to see if drive-through establishments could be exempt from the charge for the paper bag fees,” Friesen said. “The Ministry staff confirmed that no, we definitely don’t have the ability to include that kind of exemption in our bylaw under their regulation. As noted in the staff report, the provincial regulation allows municipalities to set lower introductory fees for a period of up to one year. Our recommendation is to continue as planned with increasing the bag fees [to 25 cents each] in January.”

Councillor Jeff Shields, a chartered accountant by trade, suggested that retail establishments take some of the 15 cents they earn for each paper bag and reallocate those funds to causes other than their bottom line.

Image: Screenshot, chilliwack.com / Councillor Jeff Shields said the 15-cent bag fees collected by fast food establishments should go back to cities to fund green initiatives.

“It’s nice to know there has been a lot of blame on the City [of Chilliwack] for the 15 cents,” Shields said. “A lot of the drive-throughs aren’t afraid to put up a sign and throw full blame at the city. Interestingly enough, when you turn this around and they actually keep the money; I’d like to challenge some of the restaurants. Instead of sticking that money in their pocket, they invest it in either environmental causes or charity or community causes, rather than just profits, which is now just going to strict profit.”

Councillor Chris Kloot, who had asked city staff to review the single-use bylaw back in September because he was primarily concerned about customers being charged fees even though the paper bags are fully recyclable, sought clarity from staff around paper bag fees at drive-throughs.

“So the province has basically said there is no opportunity to have an exemption for drive-through restaurants, paper bags are recyclable; is there no option then? Basically, whatever bag goes out the window, no matter how recyclable it is, it has to have a charge, is that correct?”

Friesen responded by saying the province has implemented an all-or-nothing approach.

“That is correct,” she said. “Their regulation, it’s an all or nothing. If a municipality wants to ban plastic bags, they have to apply these fees on paper and reusable bags. The only exemptions are for the smaller size [plastic] bags.”

Kloot asked if there had been any discussion with the province about a portion of the 15-cent fee being possibly returned to cities and municipalities, to which Friesen advised him there had not.

Friesen further told council that there are no additional paper bag fees being proposed by the province.

Councillor Jason Lum asked Friesen if there was any indication from the province that they would require retail restaurants to keep track of how much they’ve received from these bag fees. Friesen said there was nothing from the province requiring retail restaurants to report what they collected from bag fees.

Lum also inquired about whether retailers are required to state on the receipt who collects and keeps these bag fees, to which Friesen advised him no, there is no current mandate that places like McDonald’s disclose who keeps the fees.

As discussion revolved around the 15-cent fee and why retailers were pocketing it and not doing anything to address climate action measures, council members suggested sending a letter to the province to demand that some of the money be returned to municipalities.

“I find it tragic and unfortunate, part of their business model now is to reap the benefits of being green, so to speak,” Councillor Bud Mercer said. “I fully support the increased cost [to 25 cents on January 1). I would support it immediately on the first of January. I think it’s a cost that will encourage people to think differently. While we get complaints, I think we should be proud of where we’re at instead of worrying about it.”

As for the language of the strongly-worded letter to the province, Mercer said, “Our language in the letter should strongly recommend, even demand to the province, that the fast food market and who-evers that are actually benefitting financially from this, not only should the money be reported, but the money should come back to the city with the caveat to help fund green initiatives as we head towards our carbon neutral targets. This shouldn’t be a profit thing, it’s about making the world safer.”

Mayor Ken Popove added, “That’s really to make them accountable.”

In the end, council voted to approve Councillor Kloot’s motion to delay the increase of paper bag fees from 15 cents to 25 cents until April 1, 2023.

by Mike Vanden Bosch

B.C. govt. tells City of Chilliwack that fast food outlets must charge for takeout paper bags, no exceptions

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