Montreal is weighing a ban on plastic bags in what could become the first such drive by a prominent Canadian city if promulgated into law.
Mayor Denis Coderre has initiated a public discussion on the matter recently.
"We have to think global but act local and this is one of those issues where we have to take a look at the impact on our planet," Coderre was quoted as saying by The Canadian Press.
The bans envisaged in the metropolis have courted controversy in some regions in Canada as a similar bid had bitten the dust in Toronto in 2012. Only a few municipalities met with success.
Riding high on awareness campaigns, use of plastic bags is on the wane in the Quebec region. A five-cent charge by retailers further discouraged the use of plastic bags.
Demand for plastic bag fell to a billion bags a year, less than half of what was in demand a decade ago.
Canadian Plastics Industry Association sustainable development consultant Pierre Dubois opines that a ban could result in the use of paper bags, which have a larger carbon footprint.
Dubois said: "Exchanging one type of material for another is not necessarily a panacea."
Similar bans had come under scrutiny in some US states.
California went ahead with a ban on single-use plastic bags, to make it effective from July.
However, it has been temporarily shelved in February after the trade outfit American Progressive Bag Alliance garnered more than 800,000 signatures seeking a referendum in 2016.
Several cities in California, such as Los Angeles and San Francisco, have upheld such bans. The prohibition also cuts across major
US cities including Chicago, Seattle and Austin.
Image: Montreal has initiated a public discussion on the ban. Photo: courtesy of Foto76 / Freedigitalphotos.net.
