We are still stocking reusable bags.Big grocers have adopted solutions, but experts still have concerns | CBC News

Canada’s plastic bag ban has had an unintended consequence: reusable bags are piling up in basements, closets and eventually landfills.

“They’re everywhere,” said environmental researcher Tony Walker. “We’re being inundated with them, but we shouldn’t be.”

To combat this problem, several large grocery stores in Canada have launched solutions. Last week, Walmart launched a free nationwide recycling pilot program for the retailer’s reusable blue bags. Chains owned by rivals Sobeys and Loblaw Companies Ltd. use recyclable paper bags to deliver groceries.

But some environmental experts believe paper bags also have problems, and the best solution is to help customers actually reuse reusable bags.

“We just can’t keep giving [them] said Walker, a professor in the School of Resource and Environmental Studies at Dalhousie University in Halifax.

At the end of 2022, Federal government introduces ban Involving the manufacturing, import and sale of various disposable plastics (including shopping bags).The rules are being challenged in courtbut at the same time, they are still valid.

The regulations have made single-use shopping bags scarce in Canada, but have also led to a proliferation of reusable bags, particularly for grocery delivery.

“It just creates more waste, and that’s what we want to avoid in the first place,” said Udi Sela, a Walmart customer. Said in an interview with CBC News at the end of 2022.

At the time, Serra, who lived in Maplewood, Ont., estimated that his family purchased about 300 reusable Walmart bags through grocery delivery.

“We can’t return them, we can’t do much with them.”

Now, more than a year later, Walmart has launched a pilot program to address the problem.

It allows customers to pick up unwanted reusable blue Walmart bags and have them shipped 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 cleaned and donated to charities, primarily Canadian Food Banks.Damaged bags will be recycled into other materials. Reusable bags don’t usually go in blue bins because they are expensive and difficult to recycle.

Customers must sign up for Walmart’s program, and enrollment is limited.

Jennifer Barbazza, senior manager of sustainability at Walmart, said the retailer will fine-tune details as the plan progresses.

“[We] “We know some customers have more reusable bags than they need. One of the things we’re excited to learn from the pilot is customer acceptance and customer feedback,” she said.

Udy Serra has signed up.

“I definitely think this is a step in the right direction,” he said in an interview on Friday. “This is something that needed to be done a while ago. God knows we’ve got a lot of bags piled up.”

He said he was concerned that some customers might find the bags in the mail a hindrance. However, that didn’t stop Serra, who was soon planning to ship hundreds.

Shirk responsibility?

Not everyone is enthusiastic about Walmart’s plans. Emily Alfred, a waste advocate with the Toronto Environmental Alliance, said donating the bags to food banks is just passing on the problem.

“We need to completely eliminate waste from the system, and just sending it somewhere else for someone else to deal with is not really the solution,” she said.

Alfred Seda A Better Choice A program being piloted by Walmart in Guelph, Ont., in 2022. Customers can pay to pick up reusable bags from in-store kiosks and return them for cleaning and reuse.

“It’s a true recycling system,” she said.

Walmart’s Barbazar said the retailer is continuing to explore different reusable bag programs, including bags placed in stores.

She also said she’s confident Canada’s food banks will put the bags to good use.

“There is definitely a need for something sturdy to distribute materials to food bank clients.”

paper problem

Among major Canadian grocery stores, only Walmart offers a reusable bag program to all customers.

Loblaw recently switched from reusable to recyclable paper bags for grocery delivery. Sobes did not respond to a request for comment, but the grocer also uses paper bags and “reusable options” for home delivery, according to its website.

Many environmental experts said Paper bags are not a good solution as their production leaves a considerable carbon footprint.

“Paper bags are a problem,” Alfred said. “It takes a lot of energy to recycle paper, and it takes a lot of trees and energy to make new paper.”

Loblaw said it will continue to explore a variety of more sustainable solutions. “This is a challenge we are committed to solving,” spokesman Dave Ball said in an email.

Both Walker and Alfred praised Metro’s grocery delivery program because the grocer, which operates in Ontario and Quebec, reuses delivery materials.

Metro customers sayCan be delivered Comes in a cardboard box or reusable bag that can be returned and used for your next delivery. Alternatively, customers can choose plastic bins and remove groceries from them after offsets.

Metro doesn’t offer a similar program for in-store shoppers.

Alfred said the federal government should introduce regulations to force retailers to have effective reusable bag programs for all customers.

“It is our government and our people’s responsibility to demand that these companies do better,” she said.

But Walker said the rules would be difficult to enforce and incentives might be a better strategy.

For example, if retailers increase the price of reusable bags, shoppers will be less likely to forget about them when they head to the store, he said.

“When costs prevent people from pursuing an activity, people will change their behavior.”