City councillor wants plastic bottles banned from city facilities

CTV Montreal: Banning plastic bottles CTV Montreal: Banning plastic bottles A Montreal city councillor is planning to propose a motion that will ban the sale of plastic water bottles in city buildings.

A Montreal opposition city councillor is trying ban the bottle in municipal buildings.

Francesco Miele said he will propose a motion at next Monday’s city council meeting that would bar the use of bottled water in city-run buildings.

Miele pointed to a similar measure adopted in St-Laurent and said the city needs to set an example.

“The borough of St. Laurent has already implemented such a measure where we use tap water in pitchers for our meetings and in parks,” he said. “Obviously, we need to increase the number of water fountains available to citizens.”

While concessions would be made, such as stockpiling bottled water in case of an emergency, the motion would see bottled water banned from being sold and their use restricted in arenas, sports complexes, libraries and other municipal buildings.

Miele said any ban would be gradual, with measurable goals that would see the use of single-used plastic slowly phased out.  He added that residents would have to adjust to not being able to buy the plastic bottles by bringing their own reusable containers.

“We need to remind ourselves that over 700 million bottles are estimated to be in our landfills in Quebec annually,” he said. “Even though the plastic is actually recycled, 700 million end up in our trashcan and we have to reduce that as much as we can.”

While many bottles are recycled, Miele said reducing use would save the city money.

“There’s a cost to collect, a cost to actually recycle them,” he said. “When you add up every single step from the moment we use our bottle to the moment it’s actually recycled, there’s millions of dollars taxpayer s are paying for that.”

Karel Menard, head of the Coalition of Ecological Waste Management, said the motion is “a good first start,” but more needs to be done.

“Montreal should reaffirm its willingness to have a deposit system on water bottles, that would have been a lot better,” he said.

Other ideas the city could have looked at include revamping its curbside collection program, said Menard.

A spokesperson for Montreal Mayor Valerie Plante told CTV Montreal the mayor is studying the motion and will have more information on Monday when it’s presented.