Is this a real solution to a real problem? I live in a different city with a plastic bag ban and it just feels like busywork - I'm not at all convinced that policies like this have a significant effect either on littering or on the volume of solid waste.
this post was submitted on 04 Dec 2023
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I think it's just contributing to inflation. 33 cent bags will now be sold for $2. Sheesh.
I think the only real solution is to start a bag exchange program. People pay for the convenience fee + deposit. Remove advertising. Encourage washable bags.
I also don't like that it only affects consumers and brick and mortar stores and not larger plastic producers
I wish they continued selling single-use bags and instead required them to be biodegradable/compostable. It's fine to charge for them, too.
Why? Because sometimes shit happens and you go to the grocery store without a reusable bag. You don't want to buy a reusable bag, you already have them at home. And those reusable bags are rarely recyclable or compostable either, so are they really greener than compostable single-use bags?
Does anything prevent a retailer from selling single-use biodegradable bags?
As I understand it, plastic checkout bags are banned federally, regardless of which sort of plastic they are made of. It sounds ridiculous, but that's what the law appears to say.
Biodegradable plastic isn't plastic even if we talk about it using this word, so it may well not fall under this regulation.
I'll be perfectly honest: I don't care about the technicalities. Anybody can still buy compostable garbage bags that, to a layperson, sure feel similar to any other plastic bag.
If it is biodegradable / compostable, it should be available for purchase at checkout points for a small fee, regardless of whether it is made of plastic, advanced biopolymers or unicorn semen.
The only place I see with degradable bags at checkout is Whole Foods with their (rather robust) paper bags. All other shops have done away with disposable bags and it's an annoyance to customers when they forget their reusable bags at home.
That will solve nothing. Everything is wrapped in plastic. Even plastic is wrapped in more plastic. We need to incentivize or force corporations to use alternative more environmentally friendly materials.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
A key city committee is recommending Toronto move ahead with a minimum fee for reusable bags to drive shoppers towards more environmentally-friendly alternatives.
Toronto's infrastructure committee voted Wednesday to adopt a staff plan to update the city's solid waste reduction strategy.
Jennifer McKelvie (Scarborough-Rouge Park) said the policy lines up with work most retailers and shoppers are already doing to shift from single-use plastics to reusable bags.
If the policy passes at council, the city would also require all retailers accept reusable cups, provided they're in "good repair" and "visibly clean."
"We have the power, we have the problem of wasting an enormous amount of public money and private time picking up what other people foolishly, carelessly drop," Saxe said at the meeting.
James Pasternak (York Centre) told CBC Toronto the city needs to proceed with caution on the policy.
The original article contains 551 words, the summary contains 140 words. Saved 75%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!