Dear Editor,
Effective Jan. 1, the City of Vancouver introduced a significant leap in the fight against climate change: a single-use plastic bag ban.
“Oh!” says generic Richmond resident, “That must mean the same ban applies here.”
Wrong. Richmond locals need to wait until September before a similar, single-use plastic bylaw comes into effect.
That’s right, we get almost a full extra year to use plastic bags, the same bags that on average we use for 20 minutes and which take 400 years to break down.
It makes me wonder in discontentment how much longer Richmond would have waited to begin discussions on plastic pollution had Vancouver not voted on the ban back in 2019.
Being one of the largest cities in B.C., it is time for Richmond to start taking initiative on high-priority issues instead of waiting for others to first test the waters for us.
Latif Dhalla
RICHMOND
