Category: Operations

Creating a sustainable future: understanding the single-use items bylaw

Single use items bylaw for Alberta small business

In December 2021, the federal government announced a single-use plastics ban as a part of its plan to meet the goal of zero plastic waste by 2030. A scientific assessment done by the government of Canada revealed that plastic is polluting our rivers, lakes, and oceans and generating microplastics in water we use everyday.

The federal single-use plastics ban has been accompanied by bylaw regulations in some municipalities within Alberta. This article will help you understand these regulations and how they may affect your small business.

What is included within the ban

The federal government has defined six categories of single-use plastics that include checkout bags, cutlery, foodservice ware, ring carriers, stir sticks and straws. All of these items contribute to the adverse effects of plastic pollution. To find out more about the technical specifications visit the government of Canada’s website.

Some municipal bylaws go beyond the federal recommendations to include not only plastics, but single use items in general. Single-use items generally fit within the same categories mentioned above but may be made from alternative materials such as wood, bamboo, foam, cardboard, and other materials.

How it can affect your business

The federal regulations prohibit the manufacture, import, and sale of products in the six categories mentioned above. To allow the industry to adapt to the changes these regulations are being implemented on a staggered timeline.

Local Bylaws

In addition to the federal policy, many municipalities are introducing their own regulations around single use items. Banff, Wetaskiwin, Spruce Grove, Edmonton (effective July 1st) and Calgary (effective 2024), are among the municipalities that have passed bylaws on single-use items.

These bylaws are designed to complement the federal policy, with some taking the next step toward single-use items in general rather than specifically single-use plastics. While each bylaw has its distinctive elements, there is commonality between them. They each address several items that may affect your business:

The distribution of single-use plastic shopping bags (including compostable ones).
Minimum charge amount for paper shopping bags and reusable bags.
Restrictions on foam plates, cups and containers.
Request only policies for food service items like utensils, straws, condiment packets, napkins and stir sticks.

If any of these regulations apply to your business you can check the links above for more information about the specific bylaws in your municipality.

Potential Benefits and Challenges

While adapting to these new regulations may seem challenging, there are many benefits to pivoting your business away from single-use items. With consumers having a strong preference for sustainability, being able to adopt environmentally conscious practices may help you capture more market share and will contribute to a more positive brand image, which can also impact your ability to attract and retain top talent. Additionally, exploring single-use alternatives creates possibilities for innovation and business growth, and you may find other ways within your business to make greener choices.

Adapting to these new policies may take time as your business figures out the best way to adopt, align and shift. You may want to consider how supply chain issues may impact your business and ensure that alternatives can be sourced to meet your needs.

Strategies for compliance

An important step in ensuring your business’s compliance with these regulations is thorough research and understanding of both the federal and local policies. If your business utilizes single-use items currently, it’s important to set aside time to explore sustainable packaging and materials that will suit your specific needs. It’s a good idea to reach out to suppliers and collaborate with them so they can support you in your transition away from plastics and other single-use materials.

For more information on how you can grow your business, visit atbentrepreneurcentre.com/resources.

Start with SWOT: Using a SWOT analysis as a strategic tool

A powerful business plan addresses all of the known factors pertaining to your company’s future, but before you can build your plan, you should complete an honest evaluation of the positives and negatives around your idea. Developing a thorough SWOT analysis will identify many items you will need to include and address in your plan.

SWOT stands for:
Strengths
Weaknesses
Opportunities
Threats

These 4 elements can be put into two main categories:

Internal (strengths and weaknesses)
External (opportunities and threats)

A detailed inventory of your weaknesses and threats will put you in position to anticipate the challenges you will face as you get your business up and running. You can then leverage your strengths and opportunities to build strategies for facing those challenges. Planning this out in advance will allow you to act quickly and decisively when issues arise.
These can be communicated in your business plan to show that you know what you are up against and how you will deal with it. This is important to prospective lenders, investors and partners. More importantly, it gives you a solid foundation from which to view your business and the environment in which it must function.

Internal Factors

Strengths – What are the strengths that your business and your key people bring to the table? This may be experience, education, contacts in industry, physical or intellectual property, expressions of interest, access to capital, etcetera.

Weaknesses – What is currently lacking when it comes to your business and key people? This may be lack of equipment, industry knowledge, capital, key contacts, business acumen, etcetera.

Note: These are simply suggestions and not an exhaustive list. Each of these could be included as a strength or weakness depending on your specific situation. Be open minded and honest as you populate your own lists.

External Factors

Opportunities – What opportunities exist outside of your business that you may be able to capitalize on? These could be a growing market, changing legislation, economic shifts, lack of competition, success of a complimentary service, government support for your industry, etcetera.

Threats – What threats exist outside of your business that you may need to deal with in order to succeed? These could be a surge in competition, inflation, labor shortages, new technologies taking market share, lack of government support for your industry, etcetera.

Note: These are simply suggestions and not an exhaustive list. Each of these could be included as opportunities or threats depending on your specific situation. Be open minded and honest as you populate your own lists.

SWOT Summary

In your business plan, you can include your entire SWOT analysis, but it is recommended to have a summary outlining the findings and learnings of your SWOT analysis. This gives you the opportunity to easily demonstrate how your strengths and opportunities can be used to deal with the weaknesses and threats the business must deal with.

Targeted SWOT Options

A general SWOT analysis, like the one mentioned above, is helpful in analyzing and presenting an overall view of your business. It can be applied at the startup phase or at any time during the lifecycle of your business where an evaluation might be helpful.
It is also possible to use the same format to analyze specific parts of your business. For example, many businesses use SWOT specifically to analyze their marketing, operations or human resources. You can also apply the SWOT format when researching your competition to see where you may be able to get an advantage.

A Living Document

Like your business plan, a SWOT analysis is a tool that is valuable throughout the life of your business. Situations constantly change, so use your SWOT as a living document and revise it on a regular basis. Use it to keep track of the strengths and weaknesses within your business as they evolve, stay ahead of new threats and capitalize on emerging opportunities.

Preparing your seasonal small business for success

Clear blue skies, warm sunshine and long days—sure signs that summer, and Alberta’s tourism season, have arrived. The tourism season brings opportunities for Alberta small businesses, with $8.4 billion from tourism visitors contributing to Alberta’s GDP in 2019.

Preparing your seasonal small business for success involves some strategy and understanding how work in the off-season will contribute to your success.

Make a plan

Running a successful business relies on preparation. Seasonal or not, having a business plan gives you direction, highlighting who your target audience will be, key metrics for success, investment needs and opportunities for marketing and promotion. For tourism businesses, pick your opening or launch date for the season and work backwards to determine the timeline for staff hiring and training. For example, if your business works exclusively at farmers markets or festivals, you may already know your season launch and end dates. If you’re waiting for the spring thaw on Cold Lake to be able to launch, that date may be harder to determine.

If you’re returning for another year, review the plan you made at the end of the previous season. What operational changes need to be made for this season to be successful, if any? Let the time between seasons provide a new perspective while you review your analysis and outline for the upcoming season.

Consider your inventory and the materials needed to start the season right. What do you need to stock or restock your business for opening? Whether it’s cups and plates or marketing materials, make a list and identify how long it will take to procure. The earlier you plan ahead, the more likely you are to avoid shipping delays or supply chain concerns. Focus on your raw material needs, anything that has a lengthy delivery process or can’t be purchased from local suppliers.

Here’s what this could look like:

Staffing

Identify the duties and tasks you need to execute day-to-day operations. How many cashiers will you need? How many program staff? How many behind-the-scenes personnel? Determine their responsibilities, and how and where you as a business owner will fit with the rest of the team. If possible, consider where you as an owner may be able to redistribute some tasks to other staff. Could you hire a manager, or could your staff take on tasks so you can focus on business operations?

Once identified, you may decide to contact your previous year’s staff to determine if there’s an opportunity to have them return to their role, or upskill into a new one. Building a core summer workforce that can return for additional seasons creates reliability in your business. Returning individuals already know what to expect and how to execute your operational needs, and could help to train new hires and provide a great customer experience.

Draft an employment contract with your lawyer outlining the term dates of employment, and consider developing an employee handbook to assist you in onboarding new hires that can be used year-over-year with minimal revision.

How many staff you’ll hire may be determined by your projected cash flow. Use previous year’s cash flow to forecast revenues and highlight days/times of significance to inform your staffing needs—for example, long weekends.

If you’re launching for your first season, try creating a cash flow projection based on your business plan, and leverage market research to help determine staffing needs. Consider grants such as the Canada Summer Jobs program, which could provide you with wage subsidies if you meet the criteria, or Tourism Investment Programs for assistance funding larger projects delivered by Travel Alberta.

Execute the plan

Build excitement for your launch by announcing your opening date for the season through social media, email marketing and other channels. Generating early enthusiasm before opening for the season will be important to making the most of your compressed operational timeline. Consider where the majority of tourists will come from to visit your business. Are they being referred to you by a local hotel or vacation home rental? Build partnerships with other tourism businesses to create a referral network within your location to support one another.

The more opportunities you can create for customers to share what you’re doing, the higher your growth potential. Encourage visiting customers to share their experience with people around them, whether by word of mouth or on social media—remind them to tag you so you can see their feedback and share, too. You may want to ask your visitors to leave you a review on your Google business profile, Trip Advisor or other social network sites to help spread the word about your business.

During the season, identify areas you can optimize to encourage growth or increase productivity. For example, you recognize your food truck order line and pick up line often get confused, leaving potential customers frustrated. You decide to invest in a few cue barriers to help guide traffic, creating a better flow and resulting in faster delivery of orders as staff are focused on delivery of product—ultimately creating a better customer experience. If you can’t shift on the fly, make notes to highlight these opportunities for next season.

Winding down for another year

With another season completed, analyze your operations top to bottom.

What worked well this year? What could be improved upon?
How did your staff feel about the onboarding process? Did they have enough training and feel prepared for launch day?
How do you feel about staffing? Do you need more, less or the same number of employees for next season?
Did your business take advantage of opportunities for increased operating hours? For example, partnering with a local nonprofit for an after-hours event.
Did your business make new partnerships that can be leveraged next season?
What stock (if any) do you have leftover? Is there opportunity to distribute during the off-season? Identify what raw materials you’ll need to purchase and when, and mark that date on your calendar for the following season.
Analyze your cash flow. Based on your sales, how much preparation will you need to do for next season?

Once you’ve reviewed your analysis, make an outline to inform your operations plan for the next season.

Complete any financial requirements based on your business structure. This can include:

Remitting GST/HST per your schedule with CRA (quarterly or annually)
Returning any merchant payment terminals to your financial institution, if applicable
Completing and delivering final payroll
Generating T4s and Records of Employment
Remitting any payroll Source Deductions (EI/CPP contributions)

If your business is a corporation, talk about tying your fiscal year end to a date close to your season end with your lawyer or accountant. Aligning your corporate responsibilities with the seasonality of your business can keep financials cleaner year-over-year, so any preparation you do for the next season can be directly aligned with that season’s corporate fiscal year.

The success of tourism businesses is influenced by the support of those around them—their community, local business network and annual visitors. Connect with an Entrepreneur Strategist to review your plan and get you ready for a strong season, or visit the ATB Entrepreneur Centre to get connected to tools and resources to set up your entrepreneur journey for success.