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Toronto bans plastic bags
June 6, 2012 - 11:23pm
Yeah!
Toronto bans plastic bags [effective January 1]
LOL!
good! it's just a matter of not being lazy. there's no reason we have to use plastic anyways there's a million things to make bags out of....
Sounds like my kind of people. Ok, i'll say it...Toronto rocks!
Ha!! I actually considered praising Toronto in similar terms when fashioning the thread title - then I hesitated, and was lost.
Although most of India had lots of plastic (and other) garbage when we toured last year, the old South India Hill Station of Ooty was a wonderful exception. Signs at the entrances to Ooty said "plastic-free zone."
Stores sold goods in old-fashioned paper bags, usually with the store's name printed on it as an advertisement, as Canadian stores did 60 years ago.
Clean, beautiful Ooty shows the way.
So during the summer I throw my paper bags in the trash and purchase plastic garbage bags (which are much heavier than the grocery bags I get in the store) and in the winter I throw the paper bags in the fireplace and still purchase the same plastic bags. Please tell me how this is better for the environment than using plastic bags from the stores for garbage?
15,000 more people on welfare in Toronto, sooner or later I guess. Good job.
The City of Toronto’s surprise vote to ban the use of plastic bags threatens thousands of jobs at small, local, family-run plastic bag manufacturing firms.
Retailers could also end up being left holding the bag, literally, as most have signed contracts for delivery 12 to 18 months from now, long after the ban comes into effect on Jan. 1, 2013.
And consumers could end up paying the price, manufacturers and retailers warned.
Local plastic bag manufacturers employ 15,000 in the Greater Toronto Area and 35,000 people across Ontario, according to the Canadian Plastic Manufacturers Association.
http://www.thestar.com/business/article/1207808--plastic-bag-ban-who-loses
How about manufacturing reusable bags - or is that just beyond the brains of the poor little "family-run" businesses?
Or does environmental action have to wait until we find new jobs for everyone?
Time for another invasion, now that the combat mission in Afghanistan is over - what will our highly-trained murderers do?
And what about all the tobacco farmers and employees? Maybe we were hasty in banning advertising?
This defies credibility.
2008 figures show there were 6520 full-time positions in plastics manufacturing in Toronto, of which plastic bags would be only one product among many. I couldn't find any figures that break it down any further, but the NAICS code would be 326111. The figure of 6520 jobs (NAICS 3261) includes jobs manufacturing plastic sheets, plastic film, plastic windows and doors, plastic vehicle components, plastic bottles, polystyrene foam, plastic anvils, plastic pipes, plastic plumbing fixtures, etc.
35,000 people in Ontario making plastic bags? To the best of my knowledge, I've never met a single one of them.
When they say that "most" retailers have signed contracts beyond January 1, 2013 - assuming this is true - I'm sure that includes many retail chains that have operations outside of Toronto where the bags can be put to good use. At the small retail store that I helped run, we bought our plastic bags by the case, which were always delivered the same day we ordered them.
The people who own/work at my local convenience store actually thank me when I say, "I don't need a bag, thanks." I can't think of a reason why a retailer would object to people bringing their own reusable bags, unless they're some chain that uses plastic bags as a part of their marketing strategy.
But people in Toronto can still buy GLAD Kitchen Catchers. right? So what you've done is driven people into the hands of GLAD and other manufacturers - no?
Here on the Quebec coast, there are no paper bag alternatives. Nada.
Not to mention more car use since its harder to carry a lot of bags if they are the paper ones.
Speaking personally, instead of walking to do my grocery shopping, now I will drive. In fact I will be doing my shopping outside of Toronto since I use the bags for garbage, litter, etc as well as re-use them in grocery stores.
And yes chagning their habits IS radical. And there is often pushback as well as hey more things the poor have to buy they cant afford(the re-usable bags for $1-2)
And how much is enforcement going to cost? Or will there be none so no one will obey the law anyway?
Reusable bags were given out for free at one of the stores here.
Thats an awesome policy boom boom, and not one I have seen at any of the grocery stores in toronto
Reusable cloth bags - often sporting some green logo - are on sale in all grocery stores here in Germany, beside the disposable plastic kind but most people just bring their own. Plastic bags are evil and its good to see this tiny little step forward - Ford's peevish dismissal of the idea surely confirms its correctness, no?
Unless you want to keep adding to that continent-sized island of plastic in the middle of the Pacific?
As for the idea of mom-and-pop plastic bag manufacturers, what sort of horseshit is this? I can't believe anyone bought it.
Ah yes, I think back to my childhood, when my grandfather would rise before dawn to start the fires to power the injection-molding equipment. The air was sweet with polyethylene and I'd watch shyly from the pellet-sorter as he carefully oiled the day's molds while gran loaded pallets into the tractor-trailers with the forklift, and puppies frolicked among the resin drums.
Those where the days, eh...>?
Reusable cloth bags are definitely the way to go. We have a black Safeway one, two green ones, and a pink one. The only things for which I would support using paper bags are messy items like meat, and small items like greeting cards.
Or you could bring a reusable bag with handles from home, which are easier to carry than plastic bags while walking.
I hear you on the reusing plastic bags - my first thought was, "What will we line the green bin with?" Where my mother lives, they're not allowed to use plastic store bags in their green bins because they're not biodegradable. They have to use these paper liners, and I think there are biodegradable bags made especially for compost green bins or something like that. The other thing we can do is to simply throw the waste into the small green bin inside without a liner, and then line the outside green bin with a large plastic bag. Probably you would use less plastic overall doing it that way than a bunch of small bags filled with stuff.
I guess I'll find out. I'm looking forward to this. I'm sure we'll all find a way to survive without plastic store bags. It will stop me from being so forgetful and lazy and not remembering to bring my reusable bags, that's for sure.
CBC Information Morning has made it the question of the day. Ms. C and my sister have both piped up.
http://www.facebook.com/groups/2341394602/10151024460054603/#!/pages/CBC-Information-Morning-Saint-John/172056282840692
I re-use them for bin liners, dog poop gloves and luggage among other things. I avoid re-using them after walking the dog.
A potential problem is that reuseable bags are probably never washed. I'm throwing my canvas bag into the washer, but the other one, made of some kind of cloth/plastic or paper combination, can't go into the washer.
Good point. It'll take more care and attention, but that's what happened when we started recycling too. This may help:
How do I clean or wash my reusable grocery bags?
How do I clean or wash my reusable grocery bags?
[ETA: cross-posted with Unionist]
That's a good link. Thanks!
Heh. Nice handle OLDA! I almost banned you as a spammer on sight. Good thing I read your post first! I usually adopt a knee-jerk, shoot-from-the-hip approach to moderating, but happily I made an exception in your case. Welcome to babble!
I can't even begin to visualize that anatomical anomaly.
Yeah, welcome anvils! Hope you find enough reason to stick around!