Trustees in Winnipeg, Canada's largest school division are contemplating a ban on the sale of plastic bottles in their 77 schools. They agreed during a Winnipeg School Division board meeting Monday night to study whether such a move makes sense.

The proposal was pitched by trustee Mike Babinsky, who said he was prompted by a series of CBC News stories on plastics, particularly reports on the polluting of landfills and the tainting of hundreds of freshwater lakes in Manitoba. He was also motivated by the plastics industry's efforts to get its corporate message into schools.

It has begun offering "industry volunteers" recruited by the Canadian Plastics Industry Association (CPIA) to provide one-hour in-class presentations to children in elementary schools, according to CPIA documents. The in-class presentations will show students the history of plastic and its modern day uses.

Babinsky wants the sale of plastic bottles banned across the division, which has more than 30,000 students and 5,000 staff. He would like that to happen by the fall, if possible. He applauded his colleagues' willingness to look into the idea.

"I'm not sure how watered down it may get or what other ideas might get thrown into the mix, but I'm glad that, you know, there is an interest," he said.

Babinsky sees the University of Winnipeg as a role model. It stopped selling bottled water on campus more than a year ago — the first Canadian university to do so.

"We've seen 38,400 bottles of water actually that haven't been consumed from the first year it was eliminated," said Jason Syvixay, president of the students' association.

Babinsky also wants the city or the province to refund deposits on plastic bottles to encourage people to bring them into recycling depots.

(Source: School division ponders plastic bottle ban [CBC])