Plastic bags going bye bye – and I ain't sad

Lots and lots going on in the city of Toronto regarding plastic bags. I've been sitting on the edge of my seat! The city has decided to get cracking on its plan to divert waste by 70 per cent by 2010. After much anticipation and speculation the city announced yesterday that customers at retail stores will be expected to pay a whopping five cents for every plastic bag they use at the check-out counter. I applaud the city's efforts. It's about time we phase out plastic bags - of which 460 million head to landfills each year.

In early 2002, a 35-cent tax on plastic bags was implemented in the Republic of Ireland, and the program was a huge success. Within mere weeks of the start of the program, the use of plastic bags went down by 90 per cent.

I sincerely hope we see such a dramatic drop in the use of these pollutants on this side of the pond. Really, there is a myriad of options out there. Between reusable cloth bags, boxes, plastic bins, knapsacks and all those other bags sitting at the bottom of our closets - we shouldn't even be using plastic bags in the first place! And that's my two cents ...

What are the rules in your municipality? Do you use reusable bags? Does anybody have other waste-reduction strategies? Or have your municipalities introduced any? If you live in Toronto, are you happy or upset with this proposal?

Do you have a pile of plastic bags in your closets? Check out my post on what to do with old plastic bags!

Oh, and don't forget to check out the book giveaway I have going on.

Filed under: Living greener
Date posted: November 27, 2008
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