Vaughan Chamber of Commerce announces sustainability initiative

Yorkregion.com
Aug. 15, 2023

The Vaughan Chamber of Commerce is announcing a Sustainable Business Vaughan (SBV) initiative to help businesses reduce the usage of single-use items.

The goal of the initiative is to raise awareness around waste reduction and support small-medium enterprises (SMEs) in the hospitality and tourism industry across Vaughan.

In late 2022, the federal government announced that it would ban single-use plastics and is currently in the process of phasing them out.

The SBV initiative supports York Region’s single-use items reduction strategy, by helping businesses reduce their single-use items and preparing them for the federal ban on select single-use items.

The following banned items are:

1. Checkout bags

2. Cutlery

3. Food service ware made from hard-to-recycle plastics (containers, cups and lids made of black plastic or foam)

4. Straws, with some exceptions like flexible plastic straws

5. Stir sticks

6. Six-pack ring carriers*

*They can continue to be imported and manufactured for sale in Canada until June 20, 2023, and their sale is not banned until June 20, 2024.