Plastic straws will soon become a rarer commodity in Pender Harbour. Troy Callewaert, owner of the IGA Madeira Park, said he will no longer carry them on his shelves or in the store’s bistro and deli section. Instead, paper alternatives will be made available.
The switch is the product of a Coast-wide campaign launched by local entrepreneurs Evan Guiton and Carly Daley to encourage businesses to stop purchasing plastic straws. Their aim is to achieve a straw-free Coast by 2019. IGA in Madeira Park is the latest business to join the campaign.
“My daughter walks around with reusable straws, whether they’re bamboo or metal ones in her purse… She’s got them with her and uses them all the time,” said Callewaert, who said he’s also phasing out plastic bags. He noted the younger generation is behind the push, and another reason he was inspired to reduce his store’s plastic footprint.
He said his motivation to make the switch also came from the store’s proximity to the Pender Harbour Ocean Discovery Station (PODS), a research and visitor centre in development at Irvines Landing that will promote healthy coastal ecosystems.
“He’s taking out everyone’s options to take out plastic straws in Madeira Park, which is awesome,” said Guiton, one of the straw-free campaign organizers. “Now that he’s done this, I’d like to be able to challenge Wilson Creek IGA and IGA Gibsons to follow the good example,” she said.
“I think it’s going to show everyone else who’s in a similar situation who has a large store and moves a lot of product that this is an important thing to do and it’s definitely doable,” said Guiton. So far, 22 businesses on the Coast have committed to dropping plastic straws.
The Sunshine Coast is not alone in the move. On May 7, Deep Cove businesses launched The Last Straw initiative, which will see businesses in the municipality replace plastic straws with paper ones. In April, the City of Vancouver proposed a strategy to restrict single-use disposable items including plastic straws.
And while Callewaert is confident customers will “jump on board,” he did acknowledge the price of paper straws is significantly higher. The solution, he said, is for more retailers to participate in the program. In the meantime, he’ll spend more. “You can’t really put a cost on the environment, can you?”
