Pacific Rim Bag and Straw Ban

As a tourism economy, Tofino and Ucluelet were once extremely reliant on single-use plastics as a way to conveniently serve visitors of the region. Many of these single-use plastics, including plastic bags and straws, cannot be recycled locally, and end up in the landfill, littering greenspaces, or in marine environments where they can cause irreversible damage. A ban on plastic bags and straws to address this issue is an important policy step in eliminating a comprehensive list of single-use plastic takeaway packaging.Through the efforts of the Pacific Rim Chapters Ban the Bag Campaign and the Straws Suck Campaign, we have been able to get the businesses of Tofino and Ucluelet to voluntarily give up plastic straws, and get 80% of the business community to eliminate single-use plastic bags from checkout. From this strong foundation, the chapter was successful in lobbying both Districts to implement a ban on plastic straws and bags.