ROTHENBURGER – Plastic bags – remember the shoe commercial

THERE’S A SLOGAN in a running-shoe commercial that says, “Just do it.”

Kamloops City councillors should remember it when they talk about banning plastic bags. A notice of motion from Coun. Dale Bass will be discussed at next week’s council meeting. When it comes up for debate, there will undoubtedly be hesitation.

Everybody will agree something must be done, but it stands a good chance of getting bogged down in the details.

Some will want to go fast, some will want to go slow or kick it into somebody else’s court.

Mayor Ken Christian, for example, would rather see it done at the provincial level. He wants it discussed with retailers, too. He’s a cautious man.

Caution is often a good thing, but disposable plastic has been talked to death. As many are now realizing, and as Bass pointed out, it’s killing the planet. It piles up in our landfills and in our environment.

Almost exactly a year ago, I wrote an editorial headlined, “Does council have the gumption to ban plastic bags?”

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Mel Rothenburger is a former mayor of Kamloops, former school board chair, former editor of The Kamloops Daily News, and a current director on the Thompson-Nicola Regional District board. He was awarded the Jack Webster Foundation’s lifetime achievement award in 2011. His editorials are published Monday through Thursdays, and Saturdays on CFJC Today, CFJC Midday and CFJC Evening News. Contact him at mrothenburger@armchairmayor.ca.