At a Loblaws store in downtown Toronto yesterday, on the eve of the grocery chain’s new policy of charging Torontonians 5 cents for every plastic bag, Kate Wharton was packing an impressive tree-hugger status symbol: a biodegradable poop-scooping bag. “It’s the right thing to do,” said Ms. Wharton, accompanied by Brooklyn, her four-year-old Rottweiler.

Yes, finally someone understands! Folks in Canada see this action by the supermarket chain to be a big factor when it comes to how the issue has been handled so far and how it will be handled in the future.

Although it’s not the first retailer to institute a fee for plastic bags, some see the Loblaws program as a tipping point in the battle against the disposable bag. “They should have done it long ago,” said Ms. Wharton, who works as a naturopath, and tries to bring her own bags every time she shops. “It tells people that it’s time to get serious.”

The company itself has stated its belief that this small and simple change will drastically reduce the amount of plastic bags used by consumers every day. It’s a shame it has to come down to finances, but even shoppers understand that sometimes negative enforcement is the only way things get done.

[Cathy Pearl, university dean] was accompanied by her son, Jeff Appleby, who agreed with her sentiments, even though he was carrying his groceries in plastic bags. “We can’t keep living like this,” he said. “You have to charge people to change their behaviour. It’s the only thing that works.”

There’s only one dark spot in this bright and optimistic story — that the enthusiastic (or at least accepting) sentiment wasn’t carried on a hundred percent:

Not everyone was ready to accept the new bag fees. “I spend $300 a week at Loblaws,” said Maria Rocha, a homemaker. “Now they want me to pay for the bags, too? And what are you supposed to do when your dog poops if you don’t have any bags?”

Ah well, perhaps some people never learn.

• Command Packaging gets on board with plastic bag recycling. [Green Biz]
• Bag ban proposals are facing opposition in Virginia. [Alexandria Gazette]
• Consider green gifts this holiday season. [Des Moines Register]
• Consider buying local, while you’re at it. [Colorado Springs Independent]
• Reduce that holiday waste! [The Ontarion]
• Grocers proposing a bag tax? Well, I never. [Solid Waste and Recycling]
• Pick up an eco-friendly reusable tote at the East Brunswick library! [Central Jersey]
• Reusable bag publicity gets a boost in Rutland. [Stamford Mercury]
• Future reference: biodegradable and compostable are not the same thing. [The Peterborough Examiner]

Photo via Flickr!

Plastic bags are dropped off in a collection container near the front door of city hall. They are reused to bag groceries at food banks for the needy.

In Hemet, Sandy Jernegan, who directs the Community Pantry food bank for the poor, worries about the possibility of a state-wide ban of plastic bags.

“It would be horrible,” she said.

It’s a good guilt trip, for sure. Who would want to hold up production lines at food banks? No one in their right minds, obviously. Of course, it’s another false dichotomy: “keep disposable bags in production or else the poor will have no more access to food” is a ludicrous assumption, and once again Canada is charged with showing us the way.

AFTER A slow start last month, the Terrace Churches Food Bank handed out more food than last year.

The food bank distributed 543 bags of food and saw 364 families last week, the highest the volunteers have seen in a year, according to the vice president of the food bank. However the number is still lower than a couple of years ago, said Dennis Brewer.

“You know we’ve been down all year really from what we had been running a couple of years ago,” said Brewer, adding he believed that was a good sign.

In November 2007, 575 bags of food were distributed and 382 families received help from the food bank.

Oh hey, that’s less families needing food, but more food per family! Sounds like Terrace Churches Food Bank has a really thing going, and they owe it all to disposable plastic bags… wait, what?

For the first time, the food bank moved toward going green with reusable bags in an attempt to eliminate the use of plastic bags, Brewer said. Food bank clients were given black bags to carry their food, some of which were bought by volunteers and others that were donated by Canadian Tire.

They were told to bring the bags back next time, which shouldn’t be a problem, Brewer said.

That sounds like a recipe for disaster, and I’m sure no one followed through with it. No one ever remembers their disposable bags. How did they manage?

“Surprisingly, quite a few people do come with their own reusable bags,” Brewer said. “It’s surprising. We used to hand out heavy duty Marriott Hotel bags we bought years ago and we haven’t handed any of these out in, I guess a year, and still people bring them back to fill,” he said.

Oh. So what you’re saying is that, even if it’s not 100%, handing out reusable bags can still have a successful and beneficial impact within the food bank system? You don’t say. I wonder what Mr. Pratte would have to say about this one…

After a day-long debate yesterday, where business big and small turned out en masse to oppose the slate of measures, the public works committee voted to sit down with Tim Horton’s and other coffee chains to find a way to recycle single-use cups.

But other contentious proposals – to require a 10-cent discount for reusable bags at retail and grocery stores and bar the sale of bottled water on city property – were approved for a final vetting at the next council meeting.

Councillor Mark Grimes (Etobicoke Lakeshore) broke what threatened to be a stalemate at the six-member public works committee by shelving the coffee cup proposals until April but propelling the other measures forward to council.

“I don’t think we have this right yet,” Mr. Grimes said.

Apparently not. Thankfully, this decision was not taken lightly — it’s reported that the room was packed for the committee meeting and many showed genuine concern for what comes next, as well as frustration that (besides the obvious pushing back of an ultimatum) no one has really offered up any useful alternatives.

Councillor Shelley Carroll (Don Valley East) agreed to the compromise reluctantly, expressing frustration that business didn’t come up with any meaningful suggestions of their own during a year-long consultation on slashing packaging.
“The problem is the task group didn’t do it. That didn’t get people to the table,” she said. “I do subscribe to the theory of ‘I think we got your attention now.’ ”

It has to be tough, taking on so many causes at once. It probably wouldn’t be out of line to think that people are getting overwhelmed by the amount of change that environmental activists want to bring forward as soon as possible. Accusations are flying, such as that enacting a ban on paper cups is “taking the easy way out,” and while that seems mind-boggling at first glance (what is easy about enacting a ban on anything?), one has to ask oneself if it’s really worth it to try and ban paper cups — which are obviously easier to recycle than the infamous plastic bags — when a ban on bags themselves is already flagging? How do we do our planet justice while still garnering the support of the industries that make it go round? How do we pick our battles? It’s something to think about.

The program includes commitments to a goal to reduce the use of plastic
bags by 50 per cent in five years; consumer education initiatives to promote
the use of reusable shopping bags; appropriate and meaningful incentives to
encourage consumers to reduce plastic bag demand; and the provision of
collection points for single-use plastic bags to be recycled where possible.
It also includes annual monitoring and reporting to ensure progress is made.

“With an estimated 1.5 billion plastic bags distributed in B.C. each
year, retailers are going to need help from our customers to meet this
target,” said Max Logan, B.C. Director, RCC. “Retailers can provide the
alternatives, but ultimately its up to customers make the best choices.”

The partners will work jointly to implement a practical, province-wide
‘reduce, reuse and recycle’ solution for plastic bags distributed in retail
stores. This will ensure that British Columbians in all regions will enjoy
similar benefits through this industry-led plastic bag stewardship program.
“Independent grocers are an integral part of B.C. communities and that’s
why we are participating in this co-operative initiative,” said John Scott,
President and CEO, CFIG “It will see less litter on neighbourhood streets and
we look forward to working with all retailers, governments and consumers to
make this happen.”

Well, okay. You all know how I feel about “proactive approaches” by now. (And if you don’t, in a nutshell it’s mostly that we have given people plenty of education and proactive chances to improve their ecological habits and it hasn’t worked, so it seems that negative reinforcement like a tariff is the most effective option.) But on the other hand any progress is still progress, as British Columbia’s Minister of Environment knows.

“The B.C. government applauds the retail sector of British Columbia for
taking a proactive approach to reducing the number of plastic bags that are
distributed each year in B.C,” said Barry Penner, B.C. Minister of
Environment. “Anything we can do to reduce the amount of garbage going into
our landfills is a step in the right direction.”

The article acknowledges that the success of this plan will rest on British Columbia’s residents and consumer population, so let’s hope you guys up north live up to your potential. Make your country proud!

• Canada is still keen on banning the bags. [Surrey Leader]
• Glass recycling is coming back in vogue. [Guelph Mercury]
• Ontario needs your clean-up help on the 21st. [Timmins Press]
• Wow, Canada is actually all about the recycling today! [Evening Courier]
• They do get pretty miffed when you fudge the meaning of “eco-friendly,” though. [National Post]
• Meanwhile across the border, another store in Virginia goes plastic bag free. [SmartBrief]
• Free reusable bag giveaway in Mercer County, New Jersey! [Packet]
• Will the reusable bag market ever explode? We hope so! [Core 77]
• Three out of four Rutlanders agree: bag the bags! [Rutland and Stamford Mercury]

Photo via Flickr!