Skip to main content

“I am a Canadian, free to speak without fear, free to worship in my own way, free to stand for what I think right, free to oppose what I believe wrong, or free to choose those who shall govern my country. This heritage of freedom I pledge to uphold for myself and all mankind.” ~~ John G. Diefenbaker

ADAM OLSEN -- Please have your voice heard and take part in the consultation


Remember when fast food containers were made of styrofoam? Well those days are long gone and public awareness continues to grow with respect to the huge amount of single-use waste collecting in our landfills and recycling depots.

In recent times special attention is focusing on the impact of plastic items that are finding their way into our aquatic environments and causing tremendous problems for marine animals and the overall health of our oceans.

I wrote a post back in January called “Reduce, reuse, recycle. In that order”.  It was about our rate of consumption and our ravenous appetite devouring the earth's limited resources at a rapid pace. This week, the provincial government announced they are planning to expand our recycling efforts and they want the public's input on what should and should not be included.

This is a priority that I and my colleagues share with our BC NDP colleagues and we are happy they have started this process. 23 British Columbia communities have begun to take action on single-use plastic items and in 2018 the City of Victoria put a ban on plastic shopping bags. Despite a legal challenge to the Victoria bylaw, the province wants to work with the local and federal leaders on this issue. We are committed to finding solutions!

Seeking public input
The four areas they are seeking your response are:
  1. Bans on single-use plastics,
  2. Expanding extended producer responsibility (EPR) programs to increase recycling options,
  3. Increasing deposit rates to ensure more bottle and beverage containers are returned, and
  4. Increasing the amount of recycled plastic content is in new products.

The Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change Strategy has provided a detailed policy brief that I encourage you to read. They are seeking your advice and feedback on these important issues. They suggest increasing deposit rates on all containers from $0.05 to $0.10 and one aspect I would like your feedback on is if the deposit rate should go even higher so we can recover closer to 100% of those containers.

Please have your voice heard and take part in the consultation.
  1. Complete the public survey at: https://cleanbc.gov.bc.ca/plastics
  2. Send a formal submission to: Plastics@gov.bc.ca Read the guidelines for formal submissions at: https://cleanbc.gov.bc.ca/plastics
  3. Email your comments to: Plastics@gov.bc.ca
  4. Mail your comments to:
    Ministry of Environment and Climate Change Strategy – Recycling Regulation Amendments
    PO Box 9341 Stn Prov Govt
    Victoria, BC V8W 9M1




Adam Olsen ... is a Green Party Member of the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia for Saanich North and the Islands.

Born in Victoria, BC in 1976, Adam has lived, worked and played his entire life on the Saanich Peninsula. He is a member of Tsartlip First Nation (W̱JOȽEȽP), where he and his wife, Emily, are raising their two children, Silas and Ella.
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

FORSETH -- Focus on the nine things I mentioned. That’s what will allow the Conservative Party to win the next election

IMAGE CREDIT:   Darryl Dyck, the Canadian Press. I thought I had already made up my mind who I would be ranking on my ballot, in the Conservative Party of BC leadership race; now I am not so sure.  That means that, at least for me, and perhaps many others, it’s a good thing voting hasn’t already taken place. There were initially only one or two of the candidates that I thought might be a little too right of centre for my liking, now it seems that list is growing. I consider myself more closely aligned with what used to be called a Progressive Conservative, regardless, I feel more than comfortable within the Conservative Party of BC.  Some, however, in messages to me on my political Facebook page, have been rather, shall we say, a bit mean-spirited in comments they’ve made about my ‘purity’ as a conservative. To tell you the truth, I really don’t care! Some leadership candidates, in comments made online, have also been raising the issue of who is a pure enough conservati...
Post a Comment
Read more

WARD STAMER -- Those are REAL forestry numbers, not just made-up numbers

The following is a condensed version of remarks Kamloops – North Thompson MLA Ward Stamer’s made, regarding Forestry, in the BC Legislature, on Tuesday afternoon (02/24/2026)   Let’s talk a little bit, when we talk about Budget 2026, about the forest industry, which is near and dear to my heart. Forestry remains one of British Columbia’s foundational industries. It’s a pillar that built this province. Entire communities depend upon it. Interior towns, northern communities, Vancouver Island regions, the Kootenays, the Lower Mainland, with manufacturing facilities in Surrey and Maple Ridge, just to name a few — everywhere in BC is touched by forestry. One word that was not mentioned in Budget 2026 was forestry. That’s a shame, an incredible shame. It wasn’t an oversight – it was intentional. This government has driven forestry into the ground .... INTO THE GROUND! We can talk a little bit about some of the initiatives that this government has brought forth, to try to resurrect ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Your government has a gambling problem (Troy Media)

Provinces call it “revenue,” but it looks a lot like exploitation of the marginalized The odds of winning Lotto Max are about 1 in 33 million. You’re statistically more likely to be struck by lightning than to win it. But your government is betting that statistics won’t hold you back; they’re counting on it. Across Canada, provincial governments not only regulate gambling, they also maintain a monopoly on lottery and gaming by owning and operating the entire legal market. That means every scratch card is government-issued, gambling odds are government-set, casino ads are government-funded and lottery billboards are government-paid. And these are not incidental government activities. They generate significant revenues that governments have powerful incentives to expand, not constrain. It would be one thing for our governments to encourage us to engage in healthy activities. We can quibble about whether the government should be trying to convince us to be more active or eat more vegetabl...
Post a Comment
Read more

Labels

Show more