Re: Toronto proposes 5 cent fee for every plastic shopping bag

[Guest guest]

Many places here charge for use of plastic bags too. I do tend to use

them as bin liners in my smaller bins though. When I go out shopping

though I take spare bags and if locally sometimes a little trolley I

have.

>

> Many stores where Raven live already have this policy. People use

> cloth bags when shopping and receive a discount for doing so in

some

> stores. It's an excellent idea and I think it should be implemented

> worldwide.

>

>

> Administrator

>

> http://www.cbc.ca/consumer/story/2008/11/26/grocery-plastic.html

>

> Toronto proposes 5 cent fee for every plastic shopping bag

>

> Last Updated: Wednesday, November 26, 2008 | 11:57 AM ET

>

> Shoppers in Toronto are soon likely to be paying at least five

cents

> for every plastic shopping bag they take home from the store.

>

> Starting in June of next year, it's proposed that shoppers will be

> charged a nickel for each bag to carry home their groceries, or

> anything else that goes into a plastic bag.

>

> The new fee applies to every retail store — not just grocery stores.

>

> In making the announcement, Toronto Mayor trotted out

> some sobering statistics.

>

> The ubiquitous plastic bags make up " half of all the shopping bags

> that we process for landfill, " said . Both the grocery

industry

> and the city want to reduce their use by 70 per cent by 2012.

>

> This action, said , " represents a major step forward in our

> efforts to reduce the amount of waste. "

>

> The announcement comes after weeks of debate among city councillors

> over how to reduce the number of plastic bags that end up in

> landfills.

>

> One idea, floated two weeks ago, was to give shoppers a 10 cent

> rebate for every bag they didn't use.

>

> But that idea didn't go over well with store owners, and critics

> called it " unworkable. "

>

> Instead the industry proposed a charge, rather than a rebate, for

the

> use of a plastic bag.

>

> " The idea proposed by the grocers, which I support and will be

moving

> at city council in the form of an amendment, will call for a

minimum

> charge of five cents per plastic bag beginning next June, " said

> .

>

> The retailers get to keep the nickel.

>

> The system of charging for plastic bags is already in place in some

> grocery stores, such as No Frills.

>

> told a news conference at one of the city's waste transfer

> stations that studies show an average Toronto household uses about

> eight or nine plastic bags per week. On a yearly basis that

> translates into about 460 million plastic bags as landfill or

litter.

>

[Guest guest]

wrote: " Many places here charge for use of plastic bags too. I do

tend to use them as bin liners in my smaller bins though. When I go out

shopping though I take spare bags and if locally sometimes a little

trolley I have. "

Another thing that Toronto has instituted recently is the " bring your

own travel mug, get a discount on your beverage " policy in an effort to

reduce the number of styrofoam and heavier plastic coated cardboard

cups. For people who routinely grab a coffee on the way to and/or from

work, either on foot, via subway or by car, this seems to be a

reasonable option and very environment friendly.

Raven

[Guest guest]

Lately I have been putting anything messy inside empty packets of the

types of food that come in them. then the packets act as bin liners.

As a solution, this requires some food to continue to come in packets,

one layer of which is enough.

" Many places here charge for use of plastic bags too. I

do

> tend to use them as bin liners in my smaller bins though.