UPDATE: on January 30th, council voted to begin the repeal process for the single-use items bylaw. As per guidelines in the Municipal Government Act, the bylaw will remain in effect until the repeal is heard at a public hearing later this year. For more information, please visit calgary.ca/singleuse.

Single-use items are an opportunity for both businesses and Calgarians to reduce their disposable waste.

Calgary’s Single-use Items Bylaw starts January 16, 2024, to reduce single-use items made from all types of materials, not just plastics. It is focused on preventing waste and promoting reusables through a combination of bylaw requirements and voluntary programs to encourage waste reduction.

Bylaw Requirement for Businesses

Shopping Bags

Paper and reusable shopping bags Shopping bags are any bag used for transporting items sold or otherwise provided by a business including bags provided for in-store, take-out, drive-thru, delivery and online ordering.

Businesses can only provide shopping bags if:

A customer asks for a shopping bag or takes it from a self-serve area,
Staff asks the customer if they require a shopping bag,
A customer answers a prompt on an ordering platform requesting a shopping bag.

Businesses are required to charge a minimum fee for bags.

Businesses must charge at least 15 cents for new paper shopping bags (must contain at least 40% recycled content) and $1 for new reusable shopping bags. Fees increase in 2025.
Fees will be kept by the business.

Foodware Accessories

Including utensils, straws, stir sticks, pre-packaged condiments, napkins, etc.

Businesses can only provide foodware accessories if:

A customer asks for foodware accessories or takes from a self-serve area,
Staff asks the customer if they require foodware accessories,
A customer answers a prompt on an ordering platform requesting foodware accessories.

Voluntary Measures

Food Serviceware

Encouraging businesses to adopt reusable takeout containers program and use locally recyclable or compostable takeout containers.

Reusable Cups

Encouraging businesses to utilize reusable cups for dine-in, accept customer provided cups, adopt reusable cup share programs and use locally recyclable or compostable single-use cups.

How can Calgarians help?

Calgarians can do their part by creating new habits. They can choose reusables where feasible by bringing their own reusable bag to avoid the fees. And wherever possible, “skip the stuff” – by going bagless and only asking for or taking foodware accessories as needed.

Cutting back on disposable waste will not only help local businesses save money on single-use items and packaging but also help reduce the amount of waste produced on a weekly and yearly basis.

Background

Calgary’s Single-use Items Charter Bylaw (IH2023) was approved by Council in 2023 with an implementation date of January 16, 2024. Preliminary engagement was conducted with Calgarians and businesses between Q4 2018 to Q1 2019. A survey with residents plus interviews and workshops with businesses as well as input from City committees occurred between Q4 2021 to Q3 2022. These inputs were used to shape and refine the single-use items reduction strategy made up of bylaw requirements and voluntary programs.

The purpose of the bylaw is waste reduction. Without a focus on reduction, most single-use plastic items will simply be replaced with disposable items made from other materials. Simply substituting single-use plastic items with those made from other materials (e.g. paper, wood, bio-plastics) will not solve the problem of how much waste is created, disposed of in our landfills and littered on our streets.

The Single-use Items bylaw applies to any business providing new paper or reusable shopping bags and/or foodware accessories to customers, including grocery or convenience stores, retail stores, fast food, restaurants, cafes, bars and coffee shops. It requires businesses to give Calgarians the option to avoid single-use items waste through reminders and incentives. By encouraging Calgarians to refuse unneeded shopping bags or foodware accessories and get in the habit of bringing their own reusable options instead, we can reduce the number of single-use items in our environment and going to our landfills.

Canada’s Federal Single-use Plastics Regulations

The Government of Canada is focused on preventing problematic plastics from entering the market through a ban on the manufacture and distribution of plastic shopping bags, plastic straws, stir sticks, utensils, foam cups and other types of plastics that are difficult to recycle.
In November 2023, the Federal Court issued a ruling overturning the federal government’s Ministerial Order designating all plastic manufactured items to be “toxic substances” under the Canadian Environmental Protection Act (CEPA). This ruling has raised questions about the federal Single-use Plastics Prohibition Regulations; however, the regulations still took effect on December 20, 2023.
The City’s bylaw is not affected by the Federal Court’s decision and remains in effect. Our bylaw is more about waste reduction of all types of single-use materials and using reusables more often – so we can cut back on being so reliant on disposable items, meaning less will be thrown away in the garbage or end up as litter. We will continue to monitor the Federal level activities, and any impacts to the City’s bylaw, as this issue progresses federally.

Businesses and Calgarians with questions are encouraged to call 311 or visit calgary.ca/singleuse.

Learn more

Single-use Items Bylaw comes into effect Jan 16, 2024