Bayfield, Ont. restaurant leading Bayfield’s plastic-free push

When Jeff Ball took over Copenhagen's in Bayfield, he decided one of the first things he’d do is make his take out restaurant as plastic-free as possible.

“Almost there, about 95 per cent plastic-free here at Copenhagen’s in Bayfield. We’ve been transitioning over the last eight or nine years,” explained Ball.

The supply of compostable single-use items like food containers, cutlery and cups has been the biggest obstacle to going plastic-free -- that, and the price.

“When we started this [compostable takeout food container] was about twenty times as expensive as a foam container. It’s all pennies, but it all adds up. Now, it’s less than five or eight times as expensive as plastic,” he said.

Ball is the poster child for the Blue Bayfield Movement, started by Ray Letheren five years ago.

Copenhagen’s of Bayfield is seen in Bayfield, Ont. on May 10, 2023. (Scott Miller/CTV News London)

The retired teacher wanted to rid Bayfield of single-use plastics, and has been largely successful, earning North America’s first plastic-free community designation from the U.K.-based Surfers Against Sewage back in 2018.

“You’ve got 1,000 people here in Bayfield at least conscious of what they can do to reduce the amount of plastic we throw into the Great Lakes. It’s the mosquito in the tent theory,” he said.

“With climate change, this is the least we can do,” added Renee Sandelowsky of the Blue Bayfield community group.

Ball said one of the only things stopping them from reaching 100 per cent plastic-free status are the plastic jugs their cooking oil comes in, but eventually, supply will catch up with demand, and Copenhagen’s will be 100 per cent plastic-free.

“This our new milkshake straw, which the first milkshake straw you can get a milkshake through. That’s our most recent upgrade, and as things become more accessible, we become more plastic-free,” he said.