At the Union of BC Municipalities Convention, the issue of plastic was on the docket for the Kamloops delegation.

Councillor Dale Bass says they spoke about the proposed plastic bag ban that the city is looking to implement sometime next year. She says the province appears ready to help communities out with this issue.

“What they indicated was that they expect to go public with what they plan on doing next spring,” Bass said. “Because it takes a while, as I’ve discovered in municipal government, is it takes a long time to get some things done. So they’ve got their survey done and then they’re going to review it all and then start drafting something.”

She added that whatever is drafted will go beyond bags and deal with other issues like plastic packaging.

“It will definitely be more than bags. They’re looking at a lot of things. A lot of it also depends on the federal government’s moves, which depends on the federal election of course, but what they indicated was they’re not just going to talk about single use plastic bags.”

Bass says that going public with their plan by the spring will allow local governments the opportunity to start moving forward with their own legislation.

“We did ask, I believe everyone who has spoken with the deputy minister from government, did ask that it be done in a way that communities can enact by-laws as it suits their communities. So, maybe some communities don’t want to go as far as legislation that might come in, will allow.”

And she says it would reflect other changes that the province has made when it comes to recycling.