Montreal’s regulation banning single-use plastic products went into effect on Tuesday.
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In general, cups, glasses, stirrers, straws, utensils, plates, containers, lids and trays are now banned in restaurants.
The regulations adopted by Montreal are among the most ambitious in North America.
Despite everything, the district mayor of Verdun, Marie-Andrée Mauger, believes that Montreal is ready to comply with these measures.
“We sense support from the population and companies for more environmentally friendly models,” she explains. We feel like we’ll be hearing more and more about the climate crisis between the time of the announcement in August 2021 and today, March 2023.
One example is the University of Montreal, which has already eliminated single-use plastic from its grocery counters in preparation for the regulation’s entry into force.
“It was a lot easier than we thought,” says Pascal Prorouteau, director of gastronomy at the University of Montreal. Our staff have been very pleasantly surprised to see how well it works.”
If the university continues on its way, 225,000 containers per year will be removed from the landfill.
Environmentalists are now hoping the Quebec government will follow suit and enact a similar ordinance for the province.