The City is looking for your thoughts on how to reduce single-use items (like cups, bags and disposable take out containers) – see our tips on what actions will have the biggest impact.
Toronto's Single-Use and Takeaway Items Reduction Strategy to tackle single-use foodware waste. Most of these disposables are not recyclable or compostable, and are top litter items. The deadline to take the survey is October 16th, use our tips below!
The best way to prevent waste, and to avoid the upstream harms of making disposable products in the first place, is to shift to zero waste reusables.
Take the survey to let the City know:
- You support the strategy and the current by-laws to reduce single-use waste
- You support the proposal to require reusables for dine-in wherever food is sold
- Use the comments box at the end to say you want large venues, like stadiums, to switch to reuse!
Click here to take the City's survey.
A reusable cup at BC Place in Vancouver
The City of Toronto has made a start…
The Single-Use Reduction Strategy started with grants and education, and expanded to a new by-law in March 2024, so that now:
- You can bring your own cup to any restaurant, cafe or even chain drive-through in Toronto.
- Restaurants must ‘ask-first’ before giving out accessories: like utensils, condiment packets, straws.
Both of these simple by-laws save businesses money and prevent totally unwanted waste. The benefits add up, especially as major chains adjusted their ordering systems and apps to stop automatically giving out accessories, or to accept BYO cups.
For the next phase of the Single-Use Bylaw...
We need to shift to reuse and stop using takeout cups and dishes at big stadiums or when dining in at a restaurant. It’s not rocket science, it’s just dishes that get washed and reused for customers who are staying on site.
The City survey has a question about requiring reusable dishes for dine-in - a great step! Other municipalities have passed local regulations, showing that it’s possible, and that even Canadian fast food chains are able to adopt reuse for dine-in: Banff, Edmonton, Terrebonne & Mascouche (suburbs of Montreal) in Quebec, and Victoria, BC have local reuse by-laws.
Reusable dishes at a McDonald's restaurant in France
Major events and venues are making the switch and preventing mountains of waste, and this is a great place to start for the biggest impact:
- Reusable dishes were the standard at the Paris Olympics in 2024
- Reusable cups are being used at big events - Pride Toronto, the Coldplay shows at Rogers Stadium, and dozens of music festivals in Montreal.
- BC Place, a major stadium in Vancouver now uses reusable cups for all poured drinks, avoiding millions of disposables.
The survey doesn’t ask about reuse at venues, but you can say if you support that in the comment box at the end of the survey. You can also share more comments about your experience with the current bylaws, or ideas for what else can be done by sending an email to [email protected].