Item - 2023.IE9.3

The Infrastructure and Environment Committee recommends that:

1. City Council repeal City of Toronto Municipal Code, Chapter 604, Packaging, effective January 1, 2024.

2. City Council adopt a new City of Toronto Municipal Code Chapter 702, Single-Use and Takeaway Items, substantially in accordance with the draft chapter attached as Attachment 1 to the report (November 15, 2023) from the General Manager, Solid Waste Management Services, to Update and Action Plan on Stage 2 of the Single Use and Takeaway Items Reduction Strategy, including Phase One of the Circular Food Innovators Fund (November 15, 2023), with:

a.  §702-1. (Definitions), §702-2. (Accessory food item), §702-3. (Paper shopping bags), §702-4.A. (Use of reusable shopping bag); §702-5. (Beverage cup), §702-6. (Reusable beverage cup), §702-7. (Offence). §702-8. (Entry to inspect), §702-9. (Orders to comply), and §702-10. (Remedial action) coming into force on March 1, 2024; and

b. §702-4.B. (Minimum amount charged for reusable shopping bag) and §702-4.B. (Exemption minimum amount charged for reusable shopping bag) coming into force on May 1, 2024. 

3. City Council authorize the City Solicitor, in consultation with the General Manager, Solid Waste Management Services, to make such clarifications, minor modifications, technical or stylistic amendments to the City of Toronto Municipal Code Chapter 702, Single-Use and Takeaway Items as may be required to give effect to City Council's decision.

4. City Council direct the General Manager, Solid Waste Management Services, to apply to the Ontario Court of Justice for any new set fines or to review and increase, as required, the current set fines.

5. City Council direct the General Manager, Solid Waste Management Services, in consultation with the relevant City divisions, to submit for consideration as part of the 2025 Budget process, the supporting budget required to implement the City of Toronto Municipal Code Chapter 702, Single-Use and Takeaway Items.

6. City Council:

a. Direct the General Manager, Solid Waste Management Services, to report back to City Council in the first quarter of 2025, in consultation with the relevant City divisions, on further measures (Stage 3) to reduce single-use and takeaway items, including the feasibility of expanding City of Toronto Municipal Code Chapter 702, Single-Use and Takeaway Items further to include:

1. large event venues in Toronto;

2. acceptance of reusable food containers provided by a customer at retail business establishments; and

3. requirements for retail business establishment operators to use reusable food containers and beverage cups in their dine-in operations in Toronto.

b. Authorize the General Manager, Solid Waste Management Services, to negotiate and enter into any non-competitive agreements or any amendment agreements to existing agreements necessary for professional services, such as third-party independent public and stakeholder opinion polling to support the development and research work to accelerate and advance Stage 3 of the Single-Use and Takeaway Items Reduction Strategy as authorized in the recommendations above, in a form satisfactory to the City Solicitor.

7. City Council authorize the General Manager, Solid Waste Management Services, or their designate, until December 31, 2028, to negotiate and enter into agreements, as may be required and where it is determined that the project will support the implementation of Stages 1 and 2 of the Single Use and Takeaway Items Reduction Strategy, with non-profit, public, and private sector organizations to:

a. collaborate on projects or initiatives;

b. provide in-kind and / or financial support from the approved Solid Waste Management Services budget and is within the General Manager, Solid Waste Management Services financial authority; and / or

c. receive funding and /or in-kind support, on such terms and conditions acceptable to the General Manager, Solid Waste Management Services and in a form satisfactory to the City Solicitor.

8. City Council authorizes the implementation of Phase One of the Circular Food Innovators Fund by Solid Waste Management Services, substantially in accordance with the Framework for Phase One of the City of Toronto's Circular Food Innovators Fund in Attachment 2 to the report (November 15, 2023) from the General Manager, Solid Waste Management Services.

9. City Council authorizes the General Manager, Solid Waste Management Services, or their designate, until December 31, 2024, to execute, on behalf of the City of Toronto, agreements with successful recipients to receive funds distributed under Phase One of the Circular Food Innovators Fund outlined in Attachment 2 to the report (November 15, 2023) from the General Manager, Solid Waste Management Services, on terms and conditions acceptable to the General Manager, Solid Waste Management Services, or their designate, and in a form acceptable to the City Solicitor.

10. City Council directs the General Manager, Solid Waste Management Services, to report back by fourth quarter 2026 on the implementation of Phase One of the Circular Food Innovators Fund, and with proposed recommendations for the potential implementation of Phase Two of the Circular Food Innovators Fund that considers support for business innovation across the whole food value chain in support of the City's circular economy and sustainable consumption goals.

11. City Council direct the General Manager, Solid Waste Management Services, to report back in the first quarter of 2024, with any recommendations to adjust the Single Use and Takeaway Items Reduction Strategy that considers the Federal Court's decision quashing the Order Adding a Toxic Substance to Schedule 1 to the Canadian Environmental Protection Act, 1999 (CEPA), the pending appeal and any amended approaches by the Federal Government.

12. City Council direct the City Manager, through the appropriate Divisions and together with associated City Agencies, Boards and Commissions, to develop a plan that will , prioritize and support the accelerated advancement of Stage 1 and Stage 2 of the Single-Use and Takeaway Items Reduction Strategy at City properties, events and City-run facilities to demonstrate the City taking a leadership role to reduce the use of single-use and takeaway items.

13. City Council request the City Solicitor to report to the Infrastructure and Environment Committee by or before the end of the first quarter of 2024 on the legal feasibility of enacting and enforcing, pursuant to the City of Toronto Act, 2006, a City of Toronto bylaw that would prohibit certain retail business establishments in Toronto from providing their customers with the same plastic manufactured items indicated in the Single-use Plastics Prohibition Regulations (SOR/2022-138).

14. City Council request the General Manager, Solid Waste Management Services, as part of the first quarter of 2024 report back on any recommendations to adjust the Single-Use and Takeaway Items Reduction Strategy to include any recommendations to modify the list of items and measures to reduce Single-use and Takeaway items that may result from:

a. a review of an item’s prevalence in the City’s 2022 Litter Audits;

b. considerations of an item’s potential to persist in the environment (i.e. not biodegradable); and,

c. operational challenges and considerations with an item’s management as litter by the City.

15. City Council direct the General Manager, Solid Waste Management Services to, as part of the first quarter 2024 report-back to the Infrastructure and Environment Committee, include additional details on a monitoring plan which will be used to determine the outcomes of the Single-Use and Takeaway Items Bylaw including:

- The amount of targeted items found in future Litter Audits and Residential Waste Composition Audits;

- Input and feedback from retail business establishments on the awareness of the Single-Use and Takeaway Items Bylaw;

- Input and feedback from retail business establishments on any change in the distribution and quantities of Single-Use and Takeaway Items;

- Public and stakeholder input and feedback on any behaviour changes related to the use of Single-Use and Takeaway Items;

- Any enforcement related statistics resulting from compliance measures related to the Single-Use and Takeaway Items Bylaw; and

- A proposed reporting frequency of the monitoring plan.

This report presents an update on waste reduction initiatives from the Solid Waste Management Services Division (Solid Waste). The report proposes a new Single-Use and Takeaway Items Bylaw (SUTI Bylaw) applicable to retail business establishments as part of Stage 2 of the Single-Use and Takeaway Items Reduction Strategy (Reduction Strategy).

The proposed Single-Use and Takeaway Items Bylaw includes the following mandatory activities by a retail business establishment operator:

- confirm a customer needs a single-use accessory food item prior to distribution;

- confirm a customer needs a paper shopping bags prior to distribution;

- charge customers a minimum amount for a reusable shopping bag, with the minimum amount to increase one year following the proposed SUTI Bylaw comes into force;

- accept the use of reusable shopping bags by a customer;

- confirm a customer needs a single-use beverage cup prior to distribution; and

- accept the use of a reusable beverage cup by a customer.

Table 1. Summary of Single-Use and Takeaway Items Bylaw and proposed implementation timeline

This report also responds to City Council's direction to advise on options to incentivize businesses to reduce single-use and takeaway items by proposing a new business grant program, the Circular Food Innovators Fund (CFIF). This report outlines Phase One of the Circular Food Innovators Fund, which focuses on supporting businesses to implement reuse systems that eliminate single-use and takeaway items.

Lastly, the report outlines next steps for Stage 3 of the Reduction Strategy, to further explore measures targeted towards the use of reusable items and the further reduction of single-use and takeaway items, in addition to next steps for the second phase of the Circular Food Innovators Fund.

Please note that in advance of the Infrastructure and Environment Committee meeting scheduled for November 29, 2023, Solid Waste staff will provide a supplemental report that provides an update as it relates to the recent decision issued on November 16, 2023, by the Federal Court in Responsible Plastic Use Coalition v. Canada (Environment and Climate Change) regarding the constitutionality of the Government's current approach to banning single-use plastics. The report will also address the impacts, if any, to the Single-Use and Takeaway Items Bylaw proposed in this report that may result from the decision.

This report supplements the Update and Action Plan on the Single-Use and Takeaway Items Reduction Strategy (the Update Report), including the Circular Food Innovators Fund report, which provides information on waste reduction initiatives from Solid Waste Management Services. The Update Report proposes a new Single-Use and Takeaway Items Bylaw applicable to retail business establishments as part of Stage 2 of the Single-Use and Takeaway Items Reduction Strategy, which took into consideration the Government of Canada's Single-Use Plastic Prohibition Regulations.

This supplementary report provides information on a Federal Court of Canada ruling that found the current legal basis for the Federal Regulations to be unreasonable and unconstitutional, thereby compromising their enforcement.¹ The combination of this court decision, the Federal Government's recent decision to appeal, and the possibility that the Federal Government might amend its approach in the process have led Solid Waste Management Services staff to recommend reporting back in the First Quarter 2024 on the implications for and any necessary changes to the Single-Use and Takeaway Items Bylaw.

¹See Federal Court Decisions - Responsible Plastic Use Coalition v. Canada (Environment and Climate Change) - November 16, 2023 - section VI. Conclusion - https://decisions.fct-cf.gc.ca/fc-cf/decisions/en/item/524419/index.do?q=plastic+toxic