by Anne Finlay-Stewart, Editor

(photo by Laura Jillian)

In an era when fewer citizens are making their concerns known directly to the committees and boards that hold so much influence in our municipal system, the Owen Sound Waste Watchers (OSWW) have done just that.

The City's Operations Committee is meeting today to discuss the staff recommendation that follows the Waste Watchers' request for a ban on single-use plastics, and the members and other interested members of the public will be there to see how the elected and public representatives respond.

Following the initiative of the City's current Strategic Plan - “Ensure the responsible management of natural resources”, the staff are recommending “that a single use plastic ban not be taken at this time due to pending future direction from the federal government to ban single-use plastics nation-wide.”

The Waste Watchers are looking for swifter local action.

Any action by the federal government is not to occur until “at least 2021”, according to a statement by Prime Minister Trudeau when he had a majority government. Given the post-election players and priorities, that timeline is by no means a guarantee.

And there will be, inevitably, a long phase-in period, giving everyone from the smallest coffee shop to the biggest retailer time to use up current inventory (the alternative being to put it in landfill!) and source alternatives. The Associations for manufacturers and wholesalers of everything from straws and bags to take-out containers, cups and bottles, will be lobbying hard for compromises in any legislation.

Evidence? The last time a community group – the Owen Sound Water Watchers – spent years going through the proper channels to bring their concerns about bottled water to the City's Operations Committee, a group of employees of a local bottling plant were given the afternoon off and matching t-shirts to appear at the committee to back up their boss and a letter from the Canadian Beverage Association.

The Waste Watchers have spent the spring and summer picking up and counting literally thousands and thousands of pieces of plastic bags, straws, bottle caps, non-recyclable cups and packaging mostly from our waterways and shoreline. They have walked their walk and have the tshirts.

They could be cooking dinner at 5:30 this evening, but instead the Waste Watchers will be at City Hall to hear what the staff, councillors and public representatives on the Operations Committee have to say about the future of their recommendation. And they will be at City Hall when the minutes of this meeting are brought to Council.

As a resident of Owen Sound and a user of our water systems, you are welcome to join them. If you can't do that, follow them on Facebook or on our pages.