The Liquor Control Board of Ontario recently announced it is phasing out plastic shopping bags at its retail outlets. Click here for the full story but below is a quick synopsis. Now, if only we could manage to get them to loosen their stranglehold on the private importing of wine...
"The LCBO estimates it provides shoppers with about 80 million bags per year. Liquor stores will continue to offer paper bags and cardboard boxes for purchases once the current supply of plastic bags runs dry. David Caplan, minister of public infrastructure renewal, and John Gerretsen, minister of the environment, announced the changes Tuesday afternoon.
The Canadian Plastics Industry Association says such bans are unnecessary as plastic bags can be reused and recycled. "The decision to drop plastic shopping bags but keep paper bags at LCBO outlets is a political decision, not a decision based on science," said Serge Lavoie, president and CEO of the CPIA in a release.
"Once people understand that plastic bags are 100 per cent recyclable and are a better environmental choice than paper, they'll make informed decisions based on fact." Plastic bags dissolve over 1,000 years, according to the environmental research group Worldwatch Institute. The group says consumers around the globe dispose of 500 billion plastic sacs every year."
Politics aside, I say any step, no matter how small is a good thing. Sure they'll still hand out paper bags but maybe knowing the LCBO won't hand out plastic will make some people bring in a cloth bag just because they're sturdier. Baby steps people, baby steps....
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