Businesses across the province are continuing to ditch plastic bags.
The BC Government says all 197 government-owned and operated BC Liquor Stores will move to paper bags by March 9, 2020.
Supervisor of Solid Waste Management for the Cariboo Regional District (CRD), Tera Grady says she believes it is best if people can remember to bring their own bags or to forego bags altogether for carriable items.
“Paper is certainly a better option compared to plastic so long as people are recycling it,” she says.
“If they’re using paper bags but throwing it in the garbage, then that is not a great option.”
Grady says when paper breaks down in a landfill it will produce the greenhouse gas methane that is 21 times more harmful than carbon dioxide.
“If you’re not able to recycle your paper if you can use it as a fire starter that’s definitely a better option than landfilling it.”
A recent waste composite audit of CRD landfills in 100 Mile House, Williams Lake, and Quesnel found while plastic bags are the most visible materials, organics make up the most amount of waste by weight followed by paper products and plastics.