Retailers urge province-wide curbs on plastic bags

Thestar.com
Oct. 3, 2019
Robert Benzie

Canadian retailers are urging the Ontario government to take a province-wide approach to curb the amount of waste from single-use plastic bags.

In a letter to be sent Thursday to Environment Minister Jeff Yurek, the Retail Council of Canada tells the Progressive Conservatives that its members “fully support the reduction of the use of plastic shopping bags from retail stores.”

But the council, which represents 45,000 retailers across the country, is concerned about the “patchwork of plastic bag bylaws” throughout Ontario and other provinces.

“In Quebec there are 40 different municipal jurisdictions with 19 unique set of rules governing plastic shopping bags,” the council wrote.

“Retailers of all sizes --especially those with multiple locations across multiple municipalities --find it very difficult to manage the complexities of unique municipal and regional restrictions, in many cases, for a single store location,” the group continued.

“A patchwork of plastic shopping bag bylaws adds compliance costs and operational burden to retail stores.”

So far, four municipalities and regions --Toronto, Peel, Cornwall, and Woodstock --are developing single-use plastics policies that could take effect as early as next year.

In Toronto, consultations with the public are under way and in Peel, the regional council will receive a staff report early in the New Year.

“Ontario consumers have an increasing concern over the environmental impact caused by single-use plastics, including plastic shopping bags,” the council told Yurek.

“The retail community already increased the use of reusable shopping bags, introduced plastic shopping bag user-fees and implemented other plastic shopping bag reduction initiatives.”

Yurek is actively looking for ways to reduce waste and litter.

In August, the environment minister announced that starting in 2023 Blue Box recycling programs will gradually begin being bankrolled by waste producers instead of municipalities.

That’s in a bid to reduce packaging. By Dec. 31, 2025, producers will be fully responsible for providing all Blue Box services.

“This shift is a big step towards diverting waste, addressing plastic pollution and creating a new recycling economy that everyone can be proud of in Ontario,” he said at the time.

Reducing the plastic footprint can also be good business for retailers.

The supermarket chain, Sobeys, is phasing out plastic bags by next February so shoppers will have to bring their own reusable totes or accept paper sacks for groceries.

“We really felt that the amount of avoidable plastic in grocery stores is shocking,” Vittoria Varalli, the company’s vice-president of sustainability, said in August.