Toronto bylaw Pay for Plastic Bags
Toronto bylaw Pay for Plastic Bags
Toronto is in the process of introducing a bylaw that would require all retailers in the city to charge a minimum of 5 cents for every plastic bag, starting in June 2009. The grocery industry expects a 55%-65% reduction in plastic bag usage through the use of a fee per plastic bag system. It should be noted, that several lower end groceries stores have charged for plastic bags for several years.
From a 3R’s perspective; Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, it is much better to reduce the number of bags produced, than try to reuse or recycle them. It cost more money to recycle a plastic bag, than to produce a one new. Plus, we all know that the majority of plastic bags do NOT get recycled.
The one questionable detail from Toronto’s proposal, is who gets the funds from the sales. The city politicians have decided to give the money to the retail business, with no strings attached. We would have preferred that the funds raised from the sale of plastic bags, be restricted to environmental projects. I’m sure the city is trying to stay away from the “tax” word. Had the funds been collected by the city for environment projects, this could have been labelled as just another tax grab. Still, the retailers should have been required to spend the money on environment projects, even if these projects were for their own benefit – led lighting, more insulation, heat recovery, green power generation.
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Filed under: Go Green
