82 million problems remain after Vancouver city council vows to scrap single-use cup fee

A plan by Vancouver’s ABC-majority council to scrap the city’s controversial single-use cup fee is drawing mixed reaction. Supporters of the move say the fee is unnecessarily “punitive” for consumers and small businesses. Critics say it’s a “tragedy” and backward thinking at a time the city’s landfills are awash with disposable cups.

The debate has left both sides asking how best to deal with the cups, which with sleeves and containers make up 22 per cent of “large litter” (10 cms or bigger) on Vancouver streets, according to Recycle BC.

“What we’ve heard from the business community and residents is that the cup fee just ain’t working, that it’s punitive,” Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim said in a state of the city address to the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade this week.

Sim said council would be open to other suggestions to reduce the estimated 82 million disposable cups that are trashed each year in Vancouver. And if not, he said the fee will end, echoing what Counc. Rebecca Bligh said last week of fees being gone before summer.

Any business dispensing a drink in a disposable cup in Vancouver since Jan. 1, 2022, has been required to charge 25 cents, post signage and itemize the charge on receipts. The eatery keeps the fee because the city doesn’t have the authority to collect a tax and businesses are encouraged but not obligated to provide alternatives, like glassware or reusable share cups.