The City of Ottawa should study how to phase out single-use and foamed plastics, including plastic bottles, from city programs and services where possible, councillors sitting on the environment committee recommended on Tuesday.

The committee unanimously supported a motion put forward by Coun. Catherine McKenney that calls on city council to direct staff to both build a plan for eliminating single-use plastics in the city’s solid waste master plan and study the feasibility of banning them in services contracted at city facilities.

“It’s something that we can control here at city hall … so I’m happy to see that we’ll be moving forward [and] looking for a way to eliminate them here,” McKenney told reporters.

“You should be able to come to city hall and expect not to eat a meal off of foam plates and use plastic forks and knives.”

McKenney — who sits on the standing committee on environment protection, water, and waste management — said she’s not proposing an outright ban on single-use plastics because some items, like syringes, cannot be replaced with “an environmentally responsible alternative.”

In response to an inquiry that McKenney submitted earlier this year, staff said they believe the consumption of cold drinks, like pop and water, generate “the highest volume of plastic bottle uses” at the city. On top of that, 84 per cent of beverage sales at city buildings over the last year were plastic bottles, according to staff.

But that’s not something the municipality can do much about in the immediate short-term because it’s locked in a pouring rights contract with Coca-Cola for services like vending machine and concession counter sales in most city buildings.

That five-year contract was signed in 2011 but it’s in overhold because the city didn’t meet the minimum sales volume and is offering Coca-Cola the opportunity to vend its products until it does. City staff said they estimate that will take another three years. (Alternatively, the city would have to pay $740,000 to terminate the contract.)

In her motion, McKenney requested city staff find alternatives for once the city breaks free of its agreement with Coca-Cola.

The city’s general manager of recreation, cultural and facility services told councillors on Tuesday his department has already been talking with councillors and community groups about how the contract with Coca-Cola might be replaced.

The municipality is also speaking with Coca-Cola about “possible other options” but nothing concrete has yet come out of those discussions, Dan Chenier added.

To encourage residents to move away from bottled water, McKenney’s motion also calls for the City of Ottawa to “refresh” its public education program on municipal tap water “to dispel the misconception that bottled water is of a higher quality than municipal water.”

“We need to let people know that we have the best drinking that you can get. It’s actually healthier for you and as a city we have to take pride in that,” McKenney said.

Chenier also told councillors the city has set up “as many water fountains as [it] can possibly install” in city buildings and facilities, along with floor logos and signs to point people in their direction.

Committee heard the city dedicates about $100,000 for water promotion, including education. McKenney said she’d like to see that budget doubled but said that discussion is “for a different day.”

McKenney’s motion comes about a week after the federal Liberal government announced that it intends to ban “harmful” single-use plastics by “as early as 2021.” The text of the motion itself also cited Ottawa city council’s recent move to declare a climate emergency on April 24.

“We have got to take serious action if we’re going to save our environment,” McKenney told reporters.

“There are just so many things that the city, that your municipality can control and we have a responsibility to do so and I think people see that. They want us to be responsible and they know what we can do. ”

Chenier told the committee he had no qualms with the motion’s requests that pertain to his department.

“It’s consistent with the direction we’re heading in and it seems to be reasonable in timings and exceptions,” he said. “This calls for us to do a review and we will and I suspect in the programming context there are good alternatives.”

McKenney’s motion didn’t spell out a timeframe for the staff review but she said it’ll likely take three or four months for staff to report back.

Before voting on McKenney’s motion, the environment committee heard from a handful of delegates who all expressed support for eliminating single-use plastics at the city.

The motion will now rise to city council, which is scheduled to next meet on June 26, 2019.

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