Achi news desk-
Canada’s plastic bag ban has had an unintended consequence: an abundance of reusable bags piling up in basements, toilets and, ultimately, landfills.
“They’re everywhere,” said environmental researcher Tony Walker. “We’re drowning in them, and we shouldn’t be.”
To combat the problem, several major Canadian vegetables have come up with solutions. Last week, Walmart launched a nationwide free recycling pilot program for the retailer’s reusable blue bags. Competitors Sobeys and chains owned by Loblaw Companies Ltd. uses recyclable paper bags for food delivery.
But some environmental experts argue that paper bags are also problematic and that the best solutions are those that actually help customers reuse their reusable bags.
“We can’t keep giving [them] out,” said Walker, a professor at Dalhousie University’s School of Resource and Environmental Studies in Halifax. “We’re only supposed to have a few of them, and we’re supposed to use them until they fall apart.”
At the end of 2022, the federal government introduced a ban on the manufacture, import and sale of several single-use plastics, including checkout bags. The regulations are being challenged in courtbut in the meantime, they remain in effect.
The regulations have made single-use shopping bags rare in Canada, but have also led to a proliferation of reusable bags, especially for delivery.
“It creates more waste, which is what we’re trying to avoid in the first place,” Walmart customer Udi Sela He said in a CBS News interview in late 2022.
At the time, Sela, who lives in Maple, Ont., estimated that his family had acquired about 300 Walmart reusable bags through food delivery.
“We can’t return them, we can’t do much with them.”
Now, just over a year later, Walmart has launched a pilot project to tackle the problem.
It allows customers to pack their Walmart blue reusable bags and transport them – for free – to a facility where they will be given a second life.
How it works
According to Walmart, bags in good condition will be washed and donated to charity, mainly Food Banks Canada. Damaged bags will be recycled to other materials. Reusable bags cannot normally go in blue bins because they are costly and difficult to recycle.
Customers must register for the Walmart program, and registration is limited.
Jennifer Barbazza, Walmart’s senior manager of sustainability, said the retailer will refine the details as the program progresses.
“[We] knowing that some customers may have more reusable bags than they need,” he said. “One of the things we’re really excited to learn about from the pilot is customer acceptance and customer feedback.”
Reusable bags live rent-free in toilets and car trunks across the country. Most major retailers made the switch from single-use plastic bags about a year ago, but it’s taking some customers time to catch on. They forget to bring their bags with them, and buy more every week.
Udi Sela has already signed.
“I definitely think it’s a step in the right direction,” he said in an interview Friday. “It’s something that needed to be done a while ago. God knows we’ve got a ton of baggage piled up.”
He said he was concerned that some customers might find posting the bags a hindrance. However, it doesn’t stop Sela, who plans to ship hundreds soon.
Pass the buck?
Not everyone is a fan of the Walmart project. Emily Alfred, a waste campaigner with the Toronto Environmental Alliance, said donating the bags to the food bank is just passing the problem on.
“We need to remove waste from the system completely, and sending these somewhere else for someone else to deal with is not really a solution,” he said.
Alfred said a better option is a program piloted by Walmart in Guelph, Ont., in 2022. For a fee, customers could check out reusable bags from an in-store kiosk and return them later to be cleaned and reused.
“That’s a real circular reuse system,” he said.
Walmart’s Barbazza said the retailer continues to explore different reusable bag programs, including ones placed in stores.
She also said she is confident that Canadian food banks will make good use of the bags.
“We definitely need sturdy items to distribute materials to the food bank’s clients.”
The paper problem
Among Canada’s major grocers, only Walmart offers a reusable bag program for all customers.
Loblaw recently switched from reusable paper bags to recyclable paper bags for grocery delivery. Sobeys did not respond to requests for comment, but according to its website, the grocer also uses paper bags and “reusable options” for home delivery.
Several environmental experts say paper bags are not a good solution, because their production leaves a significant carbon footprint.
“Paper bags are a problem,” said Alfred. “It takes a lot of energy to recycle paper, it takes a lot of trees and energy to make new paper.”
Loblaw said it continues to explore a variety of more sustainable solutions. “It’s a challenge we’re committed to addressing,” spokesman Dave Bauer said in an email.
Walker and Alfred both applaud Metro for its grocery delivery program, because the grocer, which operates in Ontario and Quebec, reuses delivery materials.
Metro customers said can deliver their goods in a cardboard box or reusable bags, which can be returned and used for another delivery. Or customers can choose a plastic bin and remove their goods from it on arrival.
Metro does not offer similar programs for in-store shoppers.
Alfred said the federal government should introduce regulations that force retailers to adopt effective reusable bag programs for all customers.
“It is up to our governments and our people to demand that these companies do better,” he said.
But Walker suggested that the regulations would be difficult to enforce and that incentives might be a better tactic.
For example, if retailers increased the price of reusable bags, shoppers might be less likely to forget them when they go to the store, he said.
“When the cost is a disincentive to do an activity, people change their behaviour.”
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