Toronto proposes 5 cent fee for every plastic shopping bag

[Guest guest]

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.