Whereas the Government of Canada, Province of BC, and 17 regional districts, municipalities and local First Nations have together invested up to 30 million through the Organics Infrastructure Program OIP to keep organic waste out of landfills and to increase organic composting capacity in BC; And whereas the organic composting process is hindered by the difficulty of screening out non compostable plastic Price Look-Up PLU stickers applied to fruit and vegetable items that inevitably end up in curbside collection bins: Therefore be it resolved that UBCM petition the governments of British Columbia and Canada to require the use of certified industrially compostable PLU stickers on all fresh produce.
Ministry of Environment and Parks The ministry acknowledges that PLU produce stickers can result in the presence of plastic and other contaminants in finished compost. Companies are not required to use PLU stickers in Canada but voluntarily choose to use them and to follow codes that are administered internationally. The Canadian Produce Marketing Association is encouraging Canadas fresh produce sector to transition to certified industrially compostable PLU stickers. In 2023, the Government of Canada consulted on a regulatory framework paper on proposed regulations that would set minimum recycled content requirements for certain plastic manufactured items and labelling rules to improve the accuracy of recyclability and compostability information found on plastic packaging and single-use items. This paper included a proposal that all plastic PLU produce stickers would be required to be compostable. The BC Organic Matter Recycling Regulation OMRR regulates compost facilities and specifies materials that can be composted. The OMRR does not currently allow plastic, including compostable plastic, to be composted. The ministry has proposed amendments to the OMRR to enable a facility to seek authorization to process compostable plastics if the facility can demonstrate that the material can be successfully composted. The ministry intends to recommend updates to the regulation before end of 2025.