We’ve gotten tons of questions about “reusable” shopping bags since the ban on single-use plastic checkout bags was implemented two years ago. The ban has been very effective in reducing single-use plastic pollution across Canada, protecting wildlife and the environment from these harmful, throwaway items.
But if your closets are now filling up with this new kind of checkout bag sold at the grocery store, here are some things to remember the next time you go shopping:
The bags you’re now taking home from the grocery store every week are still plastic.
The federal plastic bag ban focuses on film plastic. Replacement bags can still be made of plastic “fabric” as long as they don’t break when machine washed and dried or used to carry 10 kilos of goods across a parking lot 100 times (seriously, those are the rules). So guess what? Major retailers picked out the cheapest plastic “fabric” bags they could find and that quickly became the default offer.
Bags abandoned in our closets or trunks don’t qualify as reuse.
To be reusable, a bag must actually be reused. But retailers have not lifted a finger to help make that happen. Instead, they just changed suppliers, upped the price they charge you – and are still happy to hand bags out like candy. Just ask anyone who gets home delivery from certain retailers. To do their part in reducing plastic waste and pollution, one of the things retailers should do is accept “reusable” bags back and clean them for use by another customer – or another delivery. But no dice. If you have a stash of clean and functional bags, you could try donating them to a local food bank or thrift store.
The grocery chains that sell us cheap so-called reusable bags are creating problems for us, not solving them.
Seriously, it’s not you (mostly). It’s them. Sure, you should remember to bring your own bags when you go to the store. Especially if you have a big stash and you don’t know what else to do with it. But it was the retailers who got us into the habit of plentiful throwaway bags and – as per above – they’re going to have to do better to get us out of it.
Ignore the plastics industry’s misinformation about reusable grocery bags.
The plastics industry doesn’t like the Canadian ban on single-use plastic checkout bags, so they keep spreading false information. They particularly like to refer to a certain study that they think reveals that throwaway plastic bags are much better for the environment than reusable cotton bags. It sounds absurd – and it is. Throwaway anything is bad – but throwaway plastic is brutal for the environment, for wildlife, for the oceans. Reusable bags are fine. But, remember, they only count as reusable if you actually reuse them. So, rest assured: if you have a nice, sturdy cotton bag that you love to take shopping with you – please keep doing that. By reusing that cotton bag instead of getting a new bag when you go shopping, you’re doing a great thing for the environment.
The bag you already have is the one you should keep reusing over and over again.
The previous point is so important we thought we’d just repeat it again. It could be that cotton bag with butterflies on it that your aunt gave you for Christmas last year or an Ontario liquor store bag from 2007 that remarkably still doesn’t have holes in it. Whatever bag(s) you already have are the ones you should keep using. Over and over again.
