Information for residents

Momentum for change led us here. Commitment to change will get us there.

86% of Vancouver residents see the importance of reducing single-use items. Many of us make an effort each day to reduce our waste and prevent litter.

We’re taking action to cut waste from foam take-out containers, single-use utensils, cups, and plastic bags. To ensure people with disabilities have safe and free access to accessible plastic straws, food vendors will be required to stock accessible straws and provide them, without question, to customers upon request.

A public awareness campaign and toolkit for businesses will be launched in 2020.

Foam cups and foam take-out containers

When the ban begins
What is banned
As of Jan 1, 2020 business license holders are restricted from serving prepared food or drinks in foam cups and foam containers.

The foam ban applies to all white and coloured polystyrene foam cups and foam take-out containers that are used for serving prepared food or beverages, including but not limited to plates, cups, bowls, trays, cartons, and hinged (“clamshell”) or lidded containers.

This includes prepared food:
- Consumed on the premises
- Served as take-out or delivery
- Packaged as leftovers
Exemptions

Hospitals and community care facilities are exempt from these by-law requirements.

Charitable food providers are temporarily exempt from the ban on foam cups and foam take-out containers for a period of one year.
Bringing your own containers

You may bring your own reusable containers to restaurants and other food vendors for leftovers only, but not for take-out orders yet.

We are working with Vancouver Coastal Health to launch an initiative that would allow customers to bring their reusable containers to food vendors for take-out orders.

The initiative will launch once Vancouver Coastal Health develops a guideline to allow restaurants to fill take-out orders in reusable containers brought in by customers.

The guideline will enable restaurants to create a documented procedure for approval by the local health authority to ensure that customers’ reusable containers can be filled in a manner that maintains sanitary conditions.

Plastic straws

When the ban begins
Beginning Apr 22, 2020, food vendors must:
- Stock accessible straws (bendable plastic straws wrapped in paper) and provide them to customers, without question, upon request; and
- Comply with the ban on plastic and compostable plastic straws
Accessible straw requirement
Many individuals rely on plastic straws for accessibility and inclusion as a result of a medical or physical condition.

Bendable plastic straws meet the widest range of accessibility needs, including:
- No physical risk of choking, injury, or allergy
- Positionable
- Doesn't requiring cleaning
- Low cost to user
- Safe at high temperatures
Review plastic straw alternatives compared to accessibility criteria (37 KB)

Using banned items after the by-laws take effect

The bans on foam cups, foam take-out containers, plastic straws, and plastic shopping bags do not apply to products sold for personal use.

Retailers are still permitted to sell these products once the bans come into effect. However, wherever possible, we encourage you to choose reusable alternatives, or recyclable or compostable alternatives that are accepted in the:

Enforcement

City by-laws include provisions for penalties for food vendors that are not in compliance. We have several tools for enforcement.

Initial actions will focus on voluntary compliance, education, outreach, and support. Following these initial actions, increasing levels of enforcement could include warning letters, issuing tickets that could result in fines, and referral to prosecution for non-compliant operators.

For example, the recommended fine for serving food or drink in a foam cup or foam take-out container in contravention of the proposed by-law amendment, is $500 per offence.

More information on the by-laws

A public education and outreach campaign begins in November 2019, supporting the public, food vendors, and suppliers in the transition away from foam cups and foam take-out containers.

Toolkits for businesses and a public awareness, education, and outreach campaign will launch in early 2020. Sign up for updates on this at the bottom of this page.

Recycling and composting single-use items

For guidance on how to properly recycle or compost single-use items, use the Waste Wizard.

The impact of single-use items

Every week, 2.6 million disposable cups and 2 million plastic shopping bags are thrown in the garbage in Vancouver (63% of the bags are reused as garbage bags.). Cups and take-out containers make up about 50% of all items collected in public waste bins and are a significant portion of litter on Vancouver streets.

Despite their convenience, it costs Vancouver taxpayers $2.5 million per year to collect these items from public waste bins and to clean up when they become litter.

No matter what they are made of, single-use items are often not recycled or composted, take up valuable space in our landfill, have a lasting impact on our environment long after being used for a short period of time, and require a significant amount of resources to produce.

Myth busting

Compostable and degradable plastics

Plastic that is labeled compostable, biodegradable, oxodegradable, or photodegradable is not accepted in Recycle BC’s residential recycling collection program or the City’s Green Bin program. These materials are not approved for composting under provincial regulation.

If disposed to landfill, compostable and biodegradable plastics will generate methane, a greenhouse gas. Compostable and degradable plastics are also not designed to biodegrade if littered in the natural environment.
Recycling plastic in Vancouver

99% of the plastic collected by Recycle BC is processed by a local company in New Westminster and Delta, and remains in Canada.

Some of the plastic collected by Recycle BC is pelletized and reintroduced into products such as new cosmetics containers right here in British Columbia, contributing to our local circular economy.

Less than 1% of the plastic that is collected is shipped overseas in the form of densified polystyrene foam; the vast majority of this is from foam cushion packaging.