Sludge Watch ==> Ontario to reduce plastic shopping bags

[Maureen Reilly]

Sludgewatch Admin:

Yes!  Plastic bags at grocery stores should be stopped altogether.
San Francisco has banned the provision of plastic grocery bags.
People bring their own cloth/plastic/string bag/backpack or
they buy one at the store.

Good idea

Anyone who ever saw the plastic bags flying around the farmfields and 
snarled around trees from blowing compost operations knows we need to limit 
the generation and use of these toxic tag-alongs.

................................


Ontario to reduce plastic shopping bags

http://www.solidwastemag.com/issues/isarticle.asp?id=68747&issue=05092007&PC=SW&story_id=&link_targ=DailyNews&link_source=aypr_SW

Solid Waste Magazine

The government of Ontario is announcing a voluntary program to reduce by 50 
per cent the number of shopping bags used by consumers.

Environment Minister Laurel Broten is announcing a partnership with the 
Recycling Council of Ontario, plus grocery and retail associations, to 
devise a system of consumer incentives to meet the target.

Incentives for customers who use cloth or canvas bags could include store 
"points" redeemable for products, air miles or cash.

Other elements of the program will be announced in future months. These may 
include training training for store clerks to double bag less often, put 
more items in each bag and stop bagging large or single items.

The system may include per-bag fees.

Currently, Ontarians use seven million plastic bags each day, or about four 
bags per person every week.

Annual annual reports will measure success; if the voluntary system doesn't 
lead to the desired result, the province can regulate tougher measures such 
as bag fees or bans.

Some grocery stores already offer customers cloth or canvas bags or reusable 
bins. A&P and Dominion, for example, sell a 99-cent reusable shopping bag 
that holds the equivalent of about three plastic bags of groceries, and give 
five air miles to customers with reusable bags.

The incentive program flows from a pilot project in Sault Ste. Marie.

In March, San Francisco became the first city in North America to ban 
plastic bags in grocery stores and large pharmacies. Retailers were given 
six months to a year to come up with alternatives such as cloth, paper or 
biodegradable bags.

In April, Leaf Rapids, a small town in northern Manitoba, became the first 
municipality in Canada to ban plastic shopping bags.