Toronto’s plastic bag laws are missing something

Reusable Produce Bag

The City of Toronto mandated a 5 cent charge for plastic bags in every store on June 1st, 2009. As of June 1st of 2010 and, according to Toronto’s recycling program, all of the plastic bags sold by retailers for this 5 cent fee had to be recyclable.

The goal of the Plastic Bag Bylaw was to discourage the use of plastic bags and increase the popularity of reusable bags . Although progressive, it’s not as beneficial as actual plastic bag bans that are being passed or debated in other municipalities and countries. From tiny towns with populations under 1,000 like Leaf Rapids in Manitoba to global heavyweights like China, many places around the world are banning plastic bags outright.

Toronto’s plastic bag charge is great, but unfortunately it doesn’t extend to produce bags. You know the ones: the free, thin plastic bags that are already balled up in your grocery cart before you even start shopping or found stuffed between various vegetable displays as you shop. We can only assume how they got there, and no one knows where they’ve been. So, most shoppers opt to grab fresh ones to guard their unsuspecting produce from harm until it gets home safely, upon which the bags are usually thrown into the garbage.

If you’re already in the habit of bringing reusable bags with you to the store, that’s a start. But the next time you go grocery shopping, consider a reusable produce bag. Never again wander through the crowded aisles looking for the plastic produce bag dispenser, and reusable produce bags will keep your produce safe and come in a variety of sustainable materials. They’re also durable and washable, so you can safely place packages of meat in them to protect your other groceries from leaky meat packaging.

Businesses can also cash in on going green by offering their own custom reusable bags for sale, just like many of them already do with reusable shopping bags.