Vancouver cup fee to be repealed

Vancouver’s City Council has decided to repeal the controversial single-use cup fee at some point in the upcoming months. Council set a deadline of June 2023 for staff to prepare a bylaw repealing the fee. Vancouver’s cup fee set a national precedent. The principal factors that convinced Vancouver council to repeal the fee are:

1. The available evidence was that the number of single-use cups distributed to Vancouver consumers continued to increase in the 14 months since the cup fee was introduced.
2. Vancouver has 675,000 residents. The residents and visitors to the City paid between $20 and $25 million in cup fees in 2022.
3. Consumer unhappiness with the cup fee was most frequently borne by front-line retail and quick-service restaurant workers.
4. Council’s view (with which RCC agrees) is now that harmonized action at a national or provincial level would be more effective.
   RCC will provide members updates when the bylaw to remove the cup fee comes to Vancouver Council.