A victory for a pair of elementary school students in Amherstburg in their push to have the town ban single-use plastics.
What started out as a school assignment at Anderdon Public Elementary School, ended up at town hall.
Grade 7 students Addiyson Walker and Darragh Aston made their case to council Tuesday night, calling for a ban on plastic bags and straws.
“Our teacher, Ms. Nolan, she advised us to maybe propose this to the town council,” said Aston.
The students argued not only are one-time use plastics plugging up landfills and hurting wildlife, but it would in fact be more cost-efficient to move to re-usable items.
One example looked at the cost of plastic grocery bags compared to re-usable bags showing the eco-friendly alternative could save a shopper more than $100 a year.
“They all seem interested in it and I think the results were much better than both of us probably expected it to be,” said Aston.
Council agreed to review the possibility of a town-wide ban on single-use plastics and also approved the removal of plastic straws and stir sticks from the Libro Centre.
The pair is happy to see the plastic removed from the recreation centre, but it's just a first step as the students will begin circulating a petition for more support.
“I think that I'm just going to think 'thank goodness' that there's no straws anymore and that I think that it will be a lot better place and I think that more people will really notice,” added Walker.
The students now plan to petition local businesses to get on board with the ban as well.
The Town of LaSalle has already eliminated plastic straws at the Vollmer Complex.
The municipalities of Windsor, Leamington, Lakeshore and Tecumseh are also considering the new policies.
