A Cochrane youth is leading the charge to have single-use plastic carryout bags and single-use plastic straws banned from town.

What started as a social studies project for Jade Janzen, 13, a grade 8 student at the Mitford Middle School, has evolved into advocating for the single-use plastic bags and straws to be banned from Cochrane.

“I realized it’s a big deal and it’s happening in other parts of the world, so why not Cochrane?”

She has completed extensive research on the topic and provides information and ideas with her Facebook page “Liveswithlessplastic.” She’s also been approaching town councillors and officials to discuss the issue. Last week, she started to meet with local store managers and in the near future hopes to make a presentation to town council.

The issues surrounding single used bags and straws are multiple. They are difficult and quite often impossible to recycle and for the most part end up in landfills. Because their light-weight and tendency to fly, they often litter the landscape and release harmful chemicals into the environment.

Along with plastic cups and water bottles they are considered to be the biggest plastic pollutants, says Janzen.

According to her research, single-use plastic bags are utilized for an average of 12 minutes and afterwards, only 12 per cent are sent to recycling plants. Of those only one per cent are actually recycled.

She believes there are many viable alternates, like compostable, cloth or reusable bags and plastic bins or cardboard boxes.

In an hour, Jade collected a bagful of plastic straws littering a small section of Cochrane's downtown core.

As part of her research, she picked up plastic straws in a small downtown area and within an hour filled a large bag.

She said there are viable alternatives like using stainless steel, glass or silicon straws. There are also a growing number of compostable straws made of paper, wood and bamboo.

Jade says officials she has contacted have been receptive. She doesn’t believe her age has been a barrier in her advocacy and points to the success of her friend Belle Levisky, who went on to create the Seven Fins Forever Shark Education Foundation.

“She’s always been very environmentally aware,” says Jade’s mom. “When she said we should do this in Cochrane, I said, ‘Well, go for it’.”

Cochrane Waste and Recycling manager Fabrizio Bertolo is among the town officials who met with Jade. He says it’s something administration wants to further examine.

“I think she wants to go to council to talk about it and so I’ll definitely help her out as much as possible,” says Bertolo

Reducing the use of single-use plastic bags and plastic straws fits into the town’s long-term zero waste ambition, but a complete ban of the bags isn’t in their immediate plans.

As a first step, Bertolo says he is currently exploring the idea of stores converting to using biodegradable bags for customers who don’t bring their own. These bags would align with the town’s organics program. It’s an approach being widely used by European countries, he explains.

Still, he isn’t opposed to the proposal and points out Canadian cities like Fort McMurray and Montreal have banned single-use plastic bags and welcomes the idea of Cochrane helping to lead the way.

Plastic straws are recyclable but the town is advising residents to simply throw them away with their trash.

“The problem is the size,” explains Bertolo. “It’s too small so it can’t be captured by the optical sorters. It’s the same with plastic cutlery.”

Bundle your plastic bags

Throwing loose plastic bags in your blue recycling bin almost guarantees they will end up in a landfill, says Bertolo, because they are extremely light-weight and loose they are difficult to process.

The town has been asking people to bundle their plastic bags and plastic film into one tied bag before placing them in their blue bin to increase the probability of them being recycled.