Results: Saving Our Planet, One Plastic Shopping Bag At A Time

Canadian supermarket retailer Sobeys will be eliminating plastic bags by the end of this month, along with four other grocery store chains. FreshCo, Safeway, Foodland and IGA stores, which are all owned by Sobeys, will all start to phase out plastic grocery bags and instead offer customers paper bags for their shopping needs. Sobeys has also introduced a line of reusable mesh produce bags made from recycled water bottles to provide customers with an alternative for their fresh produce. Do you think this is a great idea?

In 2009, Toronto first introduced a plastic bag bylaw, the first of its kind in Canada, which sold plastic bags for 5 cents, and encouraged customers to bring in their reusable bags or buy recyclable fabric bags. It was controversial when it was first implemented, but now, over ten years later, some stores are going one step further, by eliminating plastic bags completely. Paper bags will be available, or reusable bags will still be sold. Do you bring reusable bags when you grocery shop?

Sobeys estimates that removing plastic bags from their stores, along with all other banner store will have a great impact. They estimate that the change will take 225 million plastic grocery bags out of circulation. Plastic bags disrupt the environment in a serious way. Plastic bags don't biodegrade, they photodegrade – breaking down into smaller and smaller toxic bits. A plastic bag can take between 400 to 1,000 years to break down in the environment. As it breaks down, plastic particles contaminate soil and waterways and enter the food web when animals accidentally ingest them. Do you agree that plastic bags should be banned in all grocery and retail outlets?

One store took a creative risk to "shame" customers into using only reusable bags, but it actually backfired. Vancouver-based East West Market printed embarrassing messages on their plastic bags, last June, but instead of spurring customers to bring their own reusables, the plastic bags — variously emblazoned with "Dr. Toews' Wart Ointment Wholesale," "Into the Weird Adult Video Emporium" or "The Colon Care Co-op" — became somewhat of a surprise hit. Some of the customers wanted to collect them because they loved the slogans, and sales of plastic bags actually went up. In smaller print, the bags revealed the true purpose of the campaign: "Avoid the shame. Bring a reusable bag." Are you surprised that this campaign backfired?