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Jan 29, 2024

Liberals defy logic by banning compostable bags

Calgary company's bags are made in part from corn starch and contain no plastic When it comes to environmental policy, the federal Liberals represent the antithesis of Sunny Ways. Rather than

Calgary company's bags are made in part from corn starch and contain no plastic

When it comes to environmental policy, the federal Liberals represent the antithesis of Sunny Ways. Rather than incentivize positive change, their moralistic ideology drives them to legislate with sticks, not carrots. Taxes and bans proliferate while innovation and real progress falter.

They regularly deny permits to promising green energy initiatives, like Sustainable Marine Energy’s tidal power project in Nova Scotia. They can’t get critical minerals, needed to fuel a clean-energy supply chain and domestic EV production, out of the ground in a timely fashion. And now, the Liberals are set to ban compostable bags.

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The innovative bags, sold at Calgary Co-op stores and manufactured by Calgary-based Leaf Environmental Products Inc., are made from biodegradable polymer and polylactic acid derived from fermented corn starch. Crucially, according to Leaf, they contain zero plastic or micro plastics.

This makes them an undeniably appealing solution to do away with both the waste of non-recyclable plastic bags and reusable bags that are arguably just as, if not more, terrible for the environment than single-use plastic ones.

Reusable cotton bags take a large amount of energy to produce and need to be used 50 to 100 times to have less environmental impact than their single-use plastic counterparts. They’re inconvenient for anyone who doesn’t do all their shopping by car with a trunk to store them in, and discourage spontaneous business. Too many Canadians already find themselves with ever-growing collections of these bags, resorting to throwing them out rather than adding to their piles.

But Calgary’s compostable bags are destined to be swept up in the Liberals’ single-use plastic ban, which will outlaw plastic bags, straws, takeout containers and more, this December. This is because the government has categorized them as “non-conventional plastics” despite, again, containing no plastic.

While arguments have been made for an exemption, the federal government continues to stubbornly insist these non-plastic, compostable bags be banned with all the other actually plastic, single-use bags.

The bags do have the support of Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek and the Alberta provincial government, but the decision is out of their hands. “We want to make sure federal legislation isn’t inadvertently hampering or hindering innovation in that space,” Alberta’s environment minister, Rebecca Schulz, told CBC News.

The feds have offered a litany of excuses why the compostable bags can’t have an exemption, none of which makes much sense.

They’ve argued the bags can’t simply decompose in nature and require a special facility to break them down — except, luckily, Calgary has just such a facility. The Liberals also say they worry the bags could end up as common litter.

“And when these bags become litter, they pose a threat to wildlife and the environment just like conventional plastic checkout bags,” federal Environment Minister Steven Guilbeault’s press secretary told the CBC. Since just about anything could conceivably become problematic litter, this reasoning also falls well short of passing the smell test.

Guilbeault himself gave the CBC yet another explanation: “We won’t change the regulation for one company. It makes absolutely no sense. We would prevent the ability to tackle the most common form of plastic pollution.”

It’s difficult to see how exempting compostable bags would in any way inhibit tackling plastic pollution. And it’s simply bad governance to admit you’re OK punishing innovation and progress because you can’t be bothered to go beyond simplistic black-and-white approaches to an issue.

Part of the problem is, as a former hardline environmental activist, Guilbeault isn’t conditioned to compromise. This continues to be one of his greatest weaknesses as a federal minister; his ideological instincts leave little room for nuance.

Compostable bags are an ideal way to lessen environmental harm while minimizing negative impacts on individuals and businesses. As a bonus, this made-in-Canada solution could become a global business success story and change-maker.

This is the type of win-win-win solution most governments can usually only dream of — but the Liberals don’t have to dream about this easy win. All they have to do is wake up to common sense.

National Post

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