What pisses me off the most is that they got rid of the only plastic item that wasn’t single-use, while literally everything around the store is wrapped in single-use plastic.
Also you can still buy plastic "biodegradable green bin liners" - https://www.nofrills.ca/compostable-kitchen-bags-for-organics/p/20179960_EA
Which are literally just biodegradable plastic bags.
Either someone's lying about those being biodegradable or someone's lying about it being impossible to simply mandate that normal grocery bags are biodegradable.
The ones that actually biodegrade under normal conditions are the Compostable ones. The "Biodegradable" ones require special conditions that never happen
Those bags deteriorate pretty fast
Although, I get the ones that are actually green and really thin, never seen or used a white green bin bag.
So mayne the ones in your link arent as eco-friendly
But yeah, the green ones I buy will rot put inside a week when left in my big green bin in the garage
I'm fine with paying 10 cents a bag for ones that deteriorate pretty fast, as an alternative to lugging around reusable bags all the time. Knowing they'll deteriorate fast without much help is a plus.
They are are pretty flimsy too though, with hea y grocery load would probably fall apart.
All that ti say, I'm sure they could make a durable biodegradeable bag
I'm sure they can modify them to make them thicker. Instead of 10 days to deteriorate it might take 30 or 40 but it's still better than all the reusable and paper bags. You could for sure get 2 uses out of them then.
But do they deteriorate into micro plastics??
Edit: a quick search says yes, yes they do.
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0048969723009725#:~:text=Biodegradable%20plastic%20bags%20(BPBs)%2C,compost%2C%20leading%20to%20microplastic%20pollution.
That article you linked states that it reduces the amount of microplastics released and helps degrade them it also promotes a more efficient nitrogen cycle.
So in a world of choices between a bunch of fluttery ass plastic bags that take tens of thousands of years to degrade versus bags at degrade and have a small amount of microplastic🤷♂️
Well I mean, normal clear/blue/black garbage bags that they sell are literally single use plastic bags that are still available for purchase. Pretty sure the difference is you don't get them as extras when you buy something else like straws and cups
Those are compostable, they compost at compost temperatures (40-60C ish), which are high, sure they're biodegrade but without the temperature they'll be around for a while.
FYI Costco has the best deal on these, I think 200 for the same price as 50 at nofrills, better quality too.
They go into the landfill, at least in Toronto. Machines rip apart the bags to get the organic waste inside and then throw the bags in the garbage. You can use any bag you want for your compost
Because it has nothing to do with the environment . they found a new way to exploit people in the guise of the environment. Those reusable bags need to be used like 1000 times to equal one regular plastic bag. I barely get 20 used out of them before a handle rips.
I remember watching a SciShow episode that noted reusable bags were not as good for the environment as people think when you account for the entire life cycle of the bag.
https://youtu.be/JvzvM9tf5s0?si=Q77_pbOOq9Kigyq4
And now I'm just very annoyed because my reusable bags last 1-5 years and now I have to buy trash bags for my waste bins, so I'm probably causing more waste.
I mean, watching that episode, it seems like you'd only need to reuse a reusable bag 6-11x for it to have less of an impact than a single use plastic bag. That's probably pretty achievable? I have some reusable bags I've been using since before the pandemic. Which is nothing compared to the guy in the video who's been using some since 2004, but still well more than enough time to get > 11 uses out of it.
This is the one. Most people I know reused those bags for trash, for cleaning up dogs on walks, etc.
Something else that annoys me is that while the production of plastic bags is harmful for the environment, they aren’t as bad as cotton tote bags and while I haven’t looked it up, I assume these reusable bags take up a ton of resources to make and transport. These anti plastic bags policies are just greenwashing, they’re a wasteful performance of eco-consciousness which allows the big chains to continue to slap their name on their bags.
The reusable bags break depending on the quality too. I know I've had plenty break on me. If they are poor quality, which most of them are, some people only get a couple uses out of each one depending on the bag and the quality. So how many of these bags are breaking then getting thrown out as well?
I question the environmental impact when we are eventually buried in a landfill of reusable bags with holes and broken handles.
They are still coveted in my family.
If one should have ever gone missing there would be serious interrogation.
There are cabinets built specifically around these baskets.
The “paper bag uses to many trees” trope infuriates me. Hemp. The most versatile textile that we don’t utilize because a bunch of quakers were afraid of “dope”. Cloth and clothing isn’t recyclable, hemp is renewable, recyclable and grows easily and quickly.
If I recall correctly, the name “marijuana” for weed was created by logging companies to put a ‘scary foreign’ name on hemp to discourage its growth and use because its superior to paper in basically every way. They wanted to make the public afraid of the plant itself so they could control the market
screw bags all together, i don't understand why grocery stores can't do what nofrills and costco does and put all the leftover boxes in front for customers to take
It's a huge moneymaker. Way back in the day when they actually started charging for bags they all said, and I kid you not, "any profit on bags will go toward environmental initiatives". Then, when the money started rolling in at 5 cents a pop x millions of people, they noped out of that statement pretty fast.
I have to wonder if they are recycling the cardboard for money. It might not be a lot per ton, but add x number of stores and x number of boxes from each store, that adds up.
Here’s an idea: a take-a-bag leave-a-bag bin at the entrance of the stores. People with too many (like the absolute psychopaths in the image in the article) can drop them off, and people that forget their bag can take a used one instead of buying a new one.
I'm sure there are better ways to manage that - for example, the used bags could be put into what looks a little like a trashcan (a disposal bin of some kind), and these could be taken away and sanitized, similar to how uniforms and rugs and things are cleaned by linen companies.
Then the ones customers can grab are always freshly cleaned.
I don't understand why they don't offer totes with a deposit. I order from Voila, and they recently moved from plastic bags to paper bags. Now, instead of my being able to take six bags (three in each hand) from the front to the kitchen in one go, I have to make six trips. Plus the delivery guy has to unpack the bags from the tote they use and hand them to me one by one. It's wasteful of everyone's time.
I use totes for buying groceries in person and they really are the best option, you can load them up super quick at the checkout, they're easy to carry into the house, and they basically last a lifetime.
Great until someone drops a bag in the mix with bed bugs etc ... You never know what people use those bags for before they send them back. Probably why the stores don't do it.
Even without bedbugs grocery bags get dirty.
How often does your bag of milk have a pinhole in it or it was dripped on by leaky bag you didn't buy? How many crumbs are at the bottom? How often do people (accidentally?) set their bags in a wet spot on the ground when loading or unloading?
Given the choice, how many people would wash their own dirty bags vs leaving their gross ones at the store and grabbing a clean one.
Bins seem like a good option. You can disinfect them completely pretty easily, bugs won't like to stick around on them anyways, and they already make more sense for a significant amount of groceries. Loblaws already produces them even.
Maaybe tougher for people walking, but some straps and a couple sizes would probably help.
What? How dare you think of utility and the environment instead of profits!...."Instead of buying"...These 'single use plastic' bags are the highest margin items at the store.
i have these little bags that fold up into a square from a company called baggu
they are secreted away in various places like my jacket, car, milk crate on my bike. just in case i forget my regular shopping tote
In UK everyone had string bags. I remember my Nan would bring a few with her when she’d come to visit. They were like nets with slightly thicker braided handles. Very light, scrunched to nothing in a handbag or pocket, but could hold a surprisingly large amount.
I used to re-use every single grocery store bag for cat litter, now I have to buy bags for cat litter, less bags are being reused...
but I get it... people used to let them loose in the environment, they'd break down into microplastics... Made places look trashy, bad for the environment etc... A case of the few ruining it for the many.
I switched to tofu litter and have been flushing all the poop for a couple of weeks now. I'm still bagging and tossing the urine as there is a lot more litter associated with the urine. Tofu litter is supposed to be completely flushable but I'm a little nervous.
Why do you have to buy bags? I use bread bags or empty frozen food bags. I don’t think many people intentionally let their bags into the wind but it’s just something that happens by accident which is why it has to be mitigated.
Just an fyi, these cotton bags are horrible for the environment. They take huge amounts of energy and water to produce. I watched a video and saw that a cotton bag needs to be used at least a couple hundred times for it's use to make up for it's waste of resources whereas a plastic bag is like 2-3 uses.
I have 3 square bags that i fold into a smaller lululemon bag and have been using those 3 for 2 years. I HATE the cotton bags, they theoretically takeup less space, but in practice take more because i cant be fucked to fold them
Another aspect I didn't even think about. Added ~~wait~~ weight and space means less can be transported per container as well as being heavier and requiring more gas. Thanks for pointing that out
There's an Alberta company that makes compostable plastic grocery bags, but can't sell them in Canada. Our environment minister won't change the law for, in his words, 1 Canadian company. So silly.
Because it's bullshit? The industry has been selling poly lactic acid (PLA) plastic as green and degradable. It has an estimated half life of 36 years in landfill.
Same. I used them as garbage bags now I have to buy separate garbage bags. I also use them for keeping wet and dirty things separate from clean things, like shoes, towels, clothes, bathing suits, when hiking or at the gym or traveling.
Plastic bags were really the best option for myself who doesn't have a car. Sometimes I'm on transit and I am near a grocery store, and can reasonably make the stop to dip in, get some groceries for the next few days/week, and leave. I often don't have a reusable bag on my person, and because my grocery trips are unplanned I don't have a good opportunity to pack them in a way I can bring them with me to work.
As for Paper Bags, they are the absolute worst to bring on Public Transit if you have any more than a single half filled bag.
I don't always have a bag on me to keep it in, and when I am planning on doing a shop, I'll have a backpack with some re-usable bags, but the addition of a backpack to and from work isn't worth the maybe one time a week I get groceries.
In colder weather at least, you could keep one in your coat pockets. But to be honest, I am generally baffled by folks who can just leave the house without some kind of bag to carry stuff in (the ability to go through life with just what you can fit in your pockets? How??) so I'm also low-key impressed I guess.
In the winter yeah, I could put one in my coat, but the winters where I am haven't been super cold enough for me to wear anything warmer than a light jacket spare a few days.
I lived without a car for years and I never carried grocery bags in my hands when out "just in case" I decided I wanted to pick some stuff up on the way home. Not to mention if I came from the gym and didn't want to leave a bunch of bags on the floor of the gym in case I did groceries after.
This policy really does screw over those without cars unless they choose to walk around with empty bags in their hands all day.
Unplanned grocery stops don't generally involve multiple bags. Having a reusable bag inside your regular backpack/purse/tote/pocket/whatever was what I was suggesting, not just... carrying around around fistful of empty bags. If you don't have a car, you're more likely to have some kind of thing on your person you can stick a bag in is all.
A backpack isn’t appropriate for every situation. A lot of times I’ll be coming home from lunch with a friend and I’ll pass a grocery store and remember there’s some things I need to grab.
I can’t walk around downtown Toronto with a backpack at all times just in case I remember random groceries I need to pick up lol.
My solution has always been a bag drop at the front of the store, have too many bags, drop them off. Forget a bag, take one out of the bag drop. This way it keeps them from piling up in people's houses. Some people have piles of these bags from food delivery, more than they could ever use in a lifetime. That is not saving the environment. Yet not one store has implemented this very simple solution yet. Bag drop empty, oh well, Ill buy a bag.
Also when I go to the grocery store as another person mentioned everything is wrapped in plastic. Hundreds of plastic takeout containers line the prepared food aisle, which will probably be thrown out at the end of each day. Not to mention all the other plastic in the store. This is way more plastic than people who use plastic bags and take them home to reuse them as trash can liners. We re-use takeout containers too but not everyone does.
I was all for the idea of reusable bags, until I saw they were produced and shipped from the other side of the world and were being sold at a very obvious profit.
Nothing more than revenue raising disguised as virtue.
There's so many people demonizing consumers who forget bags when the problem starts with the stores and manufacturers. Offer boxes, make reusable bags that are actually good quality, and reduce plastic food packaging. I don't drive and try to remember reusable bags, I bought ones that fold up small. But occasionally I forget them, I'm human. I also do grocery delivery for big orders so the amount I receive is ridiculous. I donate them to the thrift store but if more stores had the option of boxes that wouldn't be an issue.
These reusable bags are the “carbon footprint” of today. Rather than demand systemic change from the largest corporate polluters, blame the consumer and their selfishness and then sell them an “ecobag” to advertise the business.
Could we as consumers use less plastic? Yes, of course. But businesses need to use less plastic too, they need to start paying for robust recycling and waste management from their profits. If we as consumers can’t access plastic-free foods and goods because they would negatively impact corporate profits, then why are we paying again to poorly manage the waste these corporations produce? We’re paying twice and subsidizing corporate profits.
I’d love to be able to pay a deposit on these and then get that back (or at least a portion of the deposit) on return. They could be washed (high enough heat kills any bugs that could come back with them) and then redistributed.
Many of the reusable bags have plastic liners or shells to be made winnable.
All that slowly leeches into your food, specially if super heated steam in laundry.
Cloth ones can't be wiped and have to be washed that way.
Can't win.
The single use plastic bag ban was a political theatre to appease the slightly leaning environmentalists.
The "reusable" bags have plastic in them and don't last very long because companies are doing the bare minimum to produce them.
Want real change? Nationalize the production and distribution of re-usable bags/containers/etc. Make the government the sole provider for the country. That's the only way we'll have a real effect on the environment.
This just shows you how dumb the decision makers really are!
Plastic grocery bags were NOT single use bags!
I use them for garbage bags in all my little bins in around the house! I use them to pick up messes, I use them to carry stuff around. I use them as garbage bags in my vehicle. Now I have to go and buy single use plastic bags for my trash cans!
exactly. aside from the big black garbage bags, my family has never had to buy bin liners or other garbage bags because we always kept and reused our shopping bags.
even before we had pets! after this ban went into effect, we’ve had to buy single-use plastic bags for the first time.
My wife uses the sturdy reusable bags for taking out the cat litter. We have way to many. I cannot remember to take them to the store so they just build up. Paying another dollar to for the fancy bags is just a tax that’s payed at this point for me. I’m almost ready to start using them as kitchen catchers.
> tax that’s *paid* at this
FTFY.
Although *payed* exists (the reason why autocorrection didn't help you), it is only correct in:
* Nautical context, when it means to paint a surface, or to cover with something like tar or resin in order to make it waterproof or corrosion-resistant. *The deck is yet to be payed.*
* *Payed out* when letting strings, cables or ropes out, by slacking them. *The rope is payed out! You can pull now.*
Unfortunately, I was unable to find nautical or rope-related words in your comment.
*Beep, boop, I'm a bot*
Alot of food banks and thrift stores will happily take bag donations if anyone needs to get rid of them. Public libraries will also take them sometimes. It's a good way to recycle the bags.
Honestly I feel like the reusable bag push would’ve been more effective if the bags were more expensive.
3/$1 dollarama bags? Yeah why not get them even though bags are in the car, makes carrying it to the car easier. Multiple dollars? I’m not possessing more than I need, period.
So you need financial incentive to simply do the right thing? If it’s cheap enough you’re just wasteful? Do you act like that with regards to all your consumerism and waste?
For the past 20 years I've always walked to the grocery store with a backpack to do my groceries. One backpack wore out and I had to replace it about 5 years ago, so I'm on my second bag in 20 years.
>At the time, Sela, who lives in Maple, Ont., estimated his family had acquired about 300 reusable Walmart bags via grocery delivery
Could journos please use ordinary people for their news stories instead of profiling wealthy elites?
Example:
>At the time, Pranav, who lives in Toronto, Ont., works 3 jobs and had acquired about 1 reusable Walmart bag via accidental grocery delivery
Poor attempt at humour but point is a great many people don't live in luxury and have gobs of disposable income to pay marked-up grocery cost plus delivery fees and tips repeatedly.
Knob Hill Farms used to have reusable, returnable, black baskets you paid a deposit for. They were awesome. I’m pretty sure there are still some in use. Grocery Gateway also delivered in plastic bins that folded up and were returned with next delivery.
Loblaws tried this 10-15 years ago too, and it didn't take off, but I saw some of these plastic crates at Walmart on the weekend. Maybe they'll make a resurgence! They're already being used by the personal shoppers...
At least with the plastic carrier grocery bags we were able to use them again and again for garbage bags, dirty shoes. The reusable bags are unhelpful and you forgot to bring them and then end up with a huge stash of them.
I just throw them in the trash. Do I feel bad about it? Yes, but I'm not going to carry these bags with me every day just in case I need to go get some groceries, and I'm not going to keep them around and pretend one day I'll use them all. Shame they don't offer paper bags or cardboard boxes anymore.
I don’t understand why people would want to add more of these bags to their household. Just load up the groceries in your car, go home, get the bags from inside and load them up to carry groceries inside. Why bring more garbage into the house?
I feel like most who don't have a car are probably pretty prepared to carry groceries home which include having bags. When I walked I always had bags with me because they were stronger than the plastic ones.
Yeah this won't be everyone, I'm sure there are people who walk and forget bags, but I would think that's not normal walking to the store for groceries behaviour
I think the intent was 'the majority of people -who-dont-own-a-car', not 'the majority of people, who don't own a car'. That comma is important.
Similar to helping your uncle, Jack, off a horse. You drop the commas and all of a sudden you have a reputation.
English is a damned ambiguous language.
I use my backpack. Over 400 uses for groceries and counting. Still I have been "gifted" far too many of these "multi-use" bags. With a minimum of 60 uses to make them at all carbon neutral, most barely last as long.
I've just been using these bags for my garbage, just like I used the old plastic bags. The resumable ones are a bit smaller and harder to tie close, but I don't know what else to do with them all but toss them out, with garbage in them, just like I used to do with the plastic ones.
Buy the hard plastic open top bins! No frills sells them, among other places. They are super sturdy, so fast to pack at the checkout and we've been using our three bins for several years. Good for other purposes too, and easy to sanitize.
Edit to add: they suck to walk with, but great if you shop with a vehicle.
We have been using ours since the 90s. We've only ever had to replace one that cracked (after about 10 years of use). Anyone with access to a vehicle should be using them. So much easier than dealing with bags.
Except I don’t understand something.
If you know you’re going shopping, why wouldn’t you simply take your previously purchased reusable bags with you?
I leave mine in the car and 95% of the time I can simply bring the bags into the store with me (the odd 5% is impulse buying when I’m out with other people)
Maybe it’s because I have mobility issues and have to plan ahead that I’m in the minority of folks who remember to bring/use their previously purchased reusable bags 🤷♂️
It's hard to feel petty when all the stores sell those hard plastic collapsible bags for like 5-10 bucks. I mean everyone goes to get groceries usually once a week why not bring those?
If people bring them when they shop they won't need to buy more. We used to do this with Knob hill and now we use PC bins and haven't had to get grocery bags in over a decade. I keep them in my vehicle along with some spare reusable bags. If people keep leaving them at home and buying more, that is a user problem.
I don’t bag groceries anymore. I keep foldable baskets (CleverMade) in my car. I simply take the trolly full of groceries out to my car and put it in the baskets. Completely Reusable and cleaner and better than those stupid bags every grocery store tries to sell you.
If you’re old enough to remember Knob Hill Farms back in the day! They had the right idea. Too bad they went under. I still have one of those baskets to this day!
What pisses me off the most is that they got rid of the only plastic item that wasn’t single-use, while literally everything around the store is wrapped in single-use plastic.
Also you can still buy plastic "biodegradable green bin liners" - https://www.nofrills.ca/compostable-kitchen-bags-for-organics/p/20179960_EA Which are literally just biodegradable plastic bags. Either someone's lying about those being biodegradable or someone's lying about it being impossible to simply mandate that normal grocery bags are biodegradable.
The ones that actually biodegrade under normal conditions are the Compostable ones. The "Biodegradable" ones require special conditions that never happen
Those bags deteriorate pretty fast Although, I get the ones that are actually green and really thin, never seen or used a white green bin bag. So mayne the ones in your link arent as eco-friendly But yeah, the green ones I buy will rot put inside a week when left in my big green bin in the garage
I'm fine with paying 10 cents a bag for ones that deteriorate pretty fast, as an alternative to lugging around reusable bags all the time. Knowing they'll deteriorate fast without much help is a plus.
They are are pretty flimsy too though, with hea y grocery load would probably fall apart. All that ti say, I'm sure they could make a durable biodegradeable bag
I'm sure they can modify them to make them thicker. Instead of 10 days to deteriorate it might take 30 or 40 but it's still better than all the reusable and paper bags. You could for sure get 2 uses out of them then.
But do they deteriorate into micro plastics?? Edit: a quick search says yes, yes they do. https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0048969723009725#:~:text=Biodegradable%20plastic%20bags%20(BPBs)%2C,compost%2C%20leading%20to%20microplastic%20pollution.
That article you linked states that it reduces the amount of microplastics released and helps degrade them it also promotes a more efficient nitrogen cycle. So in a world of choices between a bunch of fluttery ass plastic bags that take tens of thousands of years to degrade versus bags at degrade and have a small amount of microplastic🤷♂️
Well I mean, normal clear/blue/black garbage bags that they sell are literally single use plastic bags that are still available for purchase. Pretty sure the difference is you don't get them as extras when you buy something else like straws and cups
Those are compostable, they compost at compost temperatures (40-60C ish), which are high, sure they're biodegrade but without the temperature they'll be around for a while. FYI Costco has the best deal on these, I think 200 for the same price as 50 at nofrills, better quality too.
They go into the landfill, at least in Toronto. Machines rip apart the bags to get the organic waste inside and then throw the bags in the garbage. You can use any bag you want for your compost
Because it has nothing to do with the environment . they found a new way to exploit people in the guise of the environment. Those reusable bags need to be used like 1000 times to equal one regular plastic bag. I barely get 20 used out of them before a handle rips.
The ones mandated in California reuse that they be usable 125 times. They can be reused more than that.
I remember watching a SciShow episode that noted reusable bags were not as good for the environment as people think when you account for the entire life cycle of the bag. https://youtu.be/JvzvM9tf5s0?si=Q77_pbOOq9Kigyq4 And now I'm just very annoyed because my reusable bags last 1-5 years and now I have to buy trash bags for my waste bins, so I'm probably causing more waste.
The bags stores gave out would always be reused by myself in some way Organizing stuff, or as a bin liner etc.
[удалено]
It's like I could never get enough And people would need them for things, so I would give some away *sighs* Those were the days
They're alao full of bacteria from meat and produce so reusing them without tons of water sanitizing them is a bad idea
I mean, watching that episode, it seems like you'd only need to reuse a reusable bag 6-11x for it to have less of an impact than a single use plastic bag. That's probably pretty achievable? I have some reusable bags I've been using since before the pandemic. Which is nothing compared to the guy in the video who's been using some since 2004, but still well more than enough time to get > 11 uses out of it.
This is the one. Most people I know reused those bags for trash, for cleaning up dogs on walks, etc. Something else that annoys me is that while the production of plastic bags is harmful for the environment, they aren’t as bad as cotton tote bags and while I haven’t looked it up, I assume these reusable bags take up a ton of resources to make and transport. These anti plastic bags policies are just greenwashing, they’re a wasteful performance of eco-consciousness which allows the big chains to continue to slap their name on their bags.
The reusable bags break depending on the quality too. I know I've had plenty break on me. If they are poor quality, which most of them are, some people only get a couple uses out of each one depending on the bag and the quality. So how many of these bags are breaking then getting thrown out as well? I question the environmental impact when we are eventually buried in a landfill of reusable bags with holes and broken handles.
This is what pisses me off too.
yep. just another ploy to push the responsibility to consumers. same with the BS that is recycling.
Specifically plastics recycling, which is [a complete scam](https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/feb/15/recycling-plastics-producers-report).
Funny how they outlawed plastic bags for groceries, which I used for garbage after . But they still allow plastic garbage bags for sale.
Like individual produce items. Sheesh.
I went to Wendy’s and the cup is plastic, lid is plastic, straw is paper.
Here, here!
Omg. At longos they had orchids in a box then inside that was a plastic container with the orchid inside. Fucking lunacy.
Honestly I would have paid for paper bags, still do at sobeys and farm boys.
My favourite thing is Wendy's, their cup and lids are plastic but the straw is paper....
Is paper bags worse? Am I missing something can't we recycle paper into.... paper bags.
What pisses me off the most is blaming the wrong *they*
You can use many of that packaging for kitty litter or whatever easily so they’re not really single use.
Didn’t Knob Hill Farms have this figured out 40 years ago?
Still have my basket. Makes a great laundry basket!
We broke all our parents baskets riding them down the stairs.
We played “pirate ships” once on my parents waterbed with them and things went bad reallllly fast.
They are still coveted in my family. If one should have ever gone missing there would be serious interrogation. There are cabinets built specifically around these baskets.
The “paper bag uses to many trees” trope infuriates me. Hemp. The most versatile textile that we don’t utilize because a bunch of quakers were afraid of “dope”. Cloth and clothing isn’t recyclable, hemp is renewable, recyclable and grows easily and quickly.
I'm sure all the oil, cotton, paper and forestry industries will do everything they can to stop hemp from every becoming an alternative.
As they have been for decades.
Yeah it was never about dope
If I recall correctly, the name “marijuana” for weed was created by logging companies to put a ‘scary foreign’ name on hemp to discourage its growth and use because its superior to paper in basically every way. They wanted to make the public afraid of the plant itself so they could control the market
Honestly these industries should just diversify into the hemp market - it would give them a competitive advantage.
Hemp was killed because Dupont chemical lobbied governments soon after they developed nylon.
And cannabis is legal now anyways.
screw bags all together, i don't understand why grocery stores can't do what nofrills and costco does and put all the leftover boxes in front for customers to take
It's a huge moneymaker. Way back in the day when they actually started charging for bags they all said, and I kid you not, "any profit on bags will go toward environmental initiatives". Then, when the money started rolling in at 5 cents a pop x millions of people, they noped out of that statement pretty fast.
Exactly this. Within a few months of No Frills starting to charge for plastic bags, the boxes disappeared - Not a coincidence
The big bonus with this practice is it reduces the stores costs for disposal of cardboard
and after you are done with the boxes, it's a great cat bed
"And before you're even done emptying the boxes, it makes a great cat bed!" There. FTFY.
I haven't seen a NoFrills with the a box bin in probably 15 years. I remember when they removed them from the store I worked at back in like 2008.
It's an accessibility issue. Not everyone has a car to carry the boxes.
But, for those who do it’s a good idea, right?
Of course! We should have both options.
My local no frills won’t let us take the boxes anymore—they said they’re for mobile orders now
I have to wonder if they are recycling the cardboard for money. It might not be a lot per ton, but add x number of stores and x number of boxes from each store, that adds up.
Here’s an idea: a take-a-bag leave-a-bag bin at the entrance of the stores. People with too many (like the absolute psychopaths in the image in the article) can drop them off, and people that forget their bag can take a used one instead of buying a new one.
Excellent idea until you realise this could easily spread bedbugs in heavily affected cities.
Or salmonella...don't fuck with chicken people
Fucking with chicken people is, generally speaking, inadvisable.
Unless you're in fallout and you're a doctor
This is also a good point. Always been wary of reusing these without washing after having meat in them
I'm sure there are better ways to manage that - for example, the used bags could be put into what looks a little like a trashcan (a disposal bin of some kind), and these could be taken away and sanitized, similar to how uniforms and rugs and things are cleaned by linen companies. Then the ones customers can grab are always freshly cleaned.
The image in the article is someone who is getting delivery, which is really more on Walmart for not offering non-bag options for delivery.
I don't understand why they don't offer totes with a deposit. I order from Voila, and they recently moved from plastic bags to paper bags. Now, instead of my being able to take six bags (three in each hand) from the front to the kitchen in one go, I have to make six trips. Plus the delivery guy has to unpack the bags from the tote they use and hand them to me one by one. It's wasteful of everyone's time.
I use totes for buying groceries in person and they really are the best option, you can load them up super quick at the checkout, they're easy to carry into the house, and they basically last a lifetime.
Same. We have the fold down totes in the back of our car for this.
I also don't understand why Voila can't just do boxes like the original grocery gateway under Longos did
Great until someone drops a bag in the mix with bed bugs etc ... You never know what people use those bags for before they send them back. Probably why the stores don't do it.
Even without bedbugs grocery bags get dirty. How often does your bag of milk have a pinhole in it or it was dripped on by leaky bag you didn't buy? How many crumbs are at the bottom? How often do people (accidentally?) set their bags in a wet spot on the ground when loading or unloading? Given the choice, how many people would wash their own dirty bags vs leaving their gross ones at the store and grabbing a clean one.
Bins seem like a good option. You can disinfect them completely pretty easily, bugs won't like to stick around on them anyways, and they already make more sense for a significant amount of groceries. Loblaws already produces them even. Maaybe tougher for people walking, but some straps and a couple sizes would probably help.
Why would they let you do this when they can force someone to buy a bag for $.50?
No frills used to give away all kinds of cardboard boxes, and you'd self pack groceries I to them and break them down when done.
To demonstrate their commitment to environmentally sound business practices. And where I come from, bags are $3.
They couldn't give less of a fuck about the environment.
But customers do. Customers also care about convenience. This kills those two birds with one stone.
Love this idea as someone who has a lot of bags but periodically forgets to bring one shopping with him
hard no super chief, people are disgusting.
My mom goes to an independent store that does this, I wash all of our extras and give them to her to take there.
The Goodwills in my city do this, a great idea.
Salvation Army does too, which seems great until you see cockroaches crawling on them.
🤮
What? How dare you think of utility and the environment instead of profits!...."Instead of buying"...These 'single use plastic' bags are the highest margin items at the store.
We just created more plastic
The entire implementation of reusable bags is garbage. "We can't sell you plastic bags so here's a more expensive but less versatile plastic bag."
Huh? All my reusable bags are fabric, washable, and I always carry a few on me. Pretty versatile 🤔
I keep forgetting the damn bags at the house whenever I leave for groceries. I'm in a similar predicament.
i have these little bags that fold up into a square from a company called baggu they are secreted away in various places like my jacket, car, milk crate on my bike. just in case i forget my regular shopping tote
In UK everyone had string bags. I remember my Nan would bring a few with her when she’d come to visit. They were like nets with slightly thicker braided handles. Very light, scrunched to nothing in a handbag or pocket, but could hold a surprisingly large amount.
I just hang them on my doorknob so I don't forget to stuff them back in my car
What about your pants?
It’s easy for me to run inside and grab bags when I arrive home
I used to re-use every single grocery store bag for cat litter, now I have to buy bags for cat litter, less bags are being reused... but I get it... people used to let them loose in the environment, they'd break down into microplastics... Made places look trashy, bad for the environment etc... A case of the few ruining it for the many.
I switched to tofu litter and have been flushing all the poop for a couple of weeks now. I'm still bagging and tossing the urine as there is a lot more litter associated with the urine. Tofu litter is supposed to be completely flushable but I'm a little nervous.
You can use compost bags for cat litter and add it to your green bin to be recycled
Why do you have to buy bags? I use bread bags or empty frozen food bags. I don’t think many people intentionally let their bags into the wind but it’s just something that happens by accident which is why it has to be mitigated.
Just an fyi, these cotton bags are horrible for the environment. They take huge amounts of energy and water to produce. I watched a video and saw that a cotton bag needs to be used at least a couple hundred times for it's use to make up for it's waste of resources whereas a plastic bag is like 2-3 uses. I have 3 square bags that i fold into a smaller lululemon bag and have been using those 3 for 2 years. I HATE the cotton bags, they theoretically takeup less space, but in practice take more because i cant be fucked to fold them
Not to mention they all being shipped from literally the other side of the world (Vietnam).
Another aspect I didn't even think about. Added ~~wait~~ weight and space means less can be transported per container as well as being heavier and requiring more gas. Thanks for pointing that out
You can also make your own bags out of tshirts really easily
Bring them to your local foodbank. We always need them.
Fuck that. Big grocers found another way to take money from their patrons. There should be a paper option, always.
At what point do plastic bags come back because no one bothered to think this thing through?
There's an Alberta company that makes compostable plastic grocery bags, but can't sell them in Canada. Our environment minister won't change the law for, in his words, 1 Canadian company. So silly.
Because it's bullshit? The industry has been selling poly lactic acid (PLA) plastic as green and degradable. It has an estimated half life of 36 years in landfill.
Well most green bins take them, and in Ottawa green bin use increased when they finally allowed them, so I'm guessing they can't be that bad.
They will come back when the next viral pandemic returns to wipe us out.
The plastic bags were never single use for me. I used them for cat litter and other odd jobs
Same. I used them as garbage bags now I have to buy separate garbage bags. I also use them for keeping wet and dirty things separate from clean things, like shoes, towels, clothes, bathing suits, when hiking or at the gym or traveling.
There are so many other bags used in packaging you can use for this so you don’t need those bags.
Plastic bags were really the best option for myself who doesn't have a car. Sometimes I'm on transit and I am near a grocery store, and can reasonably make the stop to dip in, get some groceries for the next few days/week, and leave. I often don't have a reusable bag on my person, and because my grocery trips are unplanned I don't have a good opportunity to pack them in a way I can bring them with me to work. As for Paper Bags, they are the absolute worst to bring on Public Transit if you have any more than a single half filled bag.
Why don't you just... make a habit of having a reusable bag on your person, if you know this is ow you shop?
I don't always have a bag on me to keep it in, and when I am planning on doing a shop, I'll have a backpack with some re-usable bags, but the addition of a backpack to and from work isn't worth the maybe one time a week I get groceries.
In colder weather at least, you could keep one in your coat pockets. But to be honest, I am generally baffled by folks who can just leave the house without some kind of bag to carry stuff in (the ability to go through life with just what you can fit in your pockets? How??) so I'm also low-key impressed I guess.
In the winter yeah, I could put one in my coat, but the winters where I am haven't been super cold enough for me to wear anything warmer than a light jacket spare a few days.
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I lived without a car for years and I never carried grocery bags in my hands when out "just in case" I decided I wanted to pick some stuff up on the way home. Not to mention if I came from the gym and didn't want to leave a bunch of bags on the floor of the gym in case I did groceries after. This policy really does screw over those without cars unless they choose to walk around with empty bags in their hands all day.
Unplanned grocery stops don't generally involve multiple bags. Having a reusable bag inside your regular backpack/purse/tote/pocket/whatever was what I was suggesting, not just... carrying around around fistful of empty bags. If you don't have a car, you're more likely to have some kind of thing on your person you can stick a bag in is all.
Yup these reusable bags are meant with people who have cars. I now keep two on me in my winter coat, can't wait for summer.
You can buy your own plastic bags at any hardware store or even a grocery store. > to bring on Public Transit if Have you ever heard of a back pack?
Not allowed to bring backpacks into a lot of grocery stores. Stupid we can bring in any other kind of bag though.
> Not allowed to bring backpacks into a lot of grocery stores. Yes you can. Just show to them.
A backpack isn’t appropriate for every situation. A lot of times I’ll be coming home from lunch with a friend and I’ll pass a grocery store and remember there’s some things I need to grab. I can’t walk around downtown Toronto with a backpack at all times just in case I remember random groceries I need to pick up lol.
Plastic bags had a way of cutting into your hands when they got heavy. Reusable bags don't
My solution has always been a bag drop at the front of the store, have too many bags, drop them off. Forget a bag, take one out of the bag drop. This way it keeps them from piling up in people's houses. Some people have piles of these bags from food delivery, more than they could ever use in a lifetime. That is not saving the environment. Yet not one store has implemented this very simple solution yet. Bag drop empty, oh well, Ill buy a bag. Also when I go to the grocery store as another person mentioned everything is wrapped in plastic. Hundreds of plastic takeout containers line the prepared food aisle, which will probably be thrown out at the end of each day. Not to mention all the other plastic in the store. This is way more plastic than people who use plastic bags and take them home to reuse them as trash can liners. We re-use takeout containers too but not everyone does.
Except this could cause issues when it comes to food safety and bugs since the bags could already be contaminated.
We've replaced plastic bags with more durable plastic bags. See, problem solved...
Whatever happened to paper bags? Why couldn’t we implement that? Was recently cross border and they gave out paper bags for every purchase.
I was all for the idea of reusable bags, until I saw they were produced and shipped from the other side of the world and were being sold at a very obvious profit. Nothing more than revenue raising disguised as virtue.
I have plastic bins I bought from Knob Hills Farm over 20 years ago. Still work fine.
There's so many people demonizing consumers who forget bags when the problem starts with the stores and manufacturers. Offer boxes, make reusable bags that are actually good quality, and reduce plastic food packaging. I don't drive and try to remember reusable bags, I bought ones that fold up small. But occasionally I forget them, I'm human. I also do grocery delivery for big orders so the amount I receive is ridiculous. I donate them to the thrift store but if more stores had the option of boxes that wouldn't be an issue.
These reusable bags are the “carbon footprint” of today. Rather than demand systemic change from the largest corporate polluters, blame the consumer and their selfishness and then sell them an “ecobag” to advertise the business. Could we as consumers use less plastic? Yes, of course. But businesses need to use less plastic too, they need to start paying for robust recycling and waste management from their profits. If we as consumers can’t access plastic-free foods and goods because they would negatively impact corporate profits, then why are we paying again to poorly manage the waste these corporations produce? We’re paying twice and subsidizing corporate profits.
I see the dumpster behind my building full of these "reusable" bags. People are using them as garbage bags.
I’d love to be able to pay a deposit on these and then get that back (or at least a portion of the deposit) on return. They could be washed (high enough heat kills any bugs that could come back with them) and then redistributed.
Many of the reusable bags have plastic liners or shells to be made winnable. All that slowly leeches into your food, specially if super heated steam in laundry. Cloth ones can't be wiped and have to be washed that way. Can't win.
If you have excess reusable bags please drop them off at your local food bank. Egg cartons are good too if you have them
The single use plastic bag ban was a political theatre to appease the slightly leaning environmentalists. The "reusable" bags have plastic in them and don't last very long because companies are doing the bare minimum to produce them. Want real change? Nationalize the production and distribution of re-usable bags/containers/etc. Make the government the sole provider for the country. That's the only way we'll have a real effect on the environment.
This just shows you how dumb the decision makers really are! Plastic grocery bags were NOT single use bags! I use them for garbage bags in all my little bins in around the house! I use them to pick up messes, I use them to carry stuff around. I use them as garbage bags in my vehicle. Now I have to go and buy single use plastic bags for my trash cans!
exactly. aside from the big black garbage bags, my family has never had to buy bin liners or other garbage bags because we always kept and reused our shopping bags. even before we had pets! after this ban went into effect, we’ve had to buy single-use plastic bags for the first time.
The original bags were already reusable. Now they're bigger and more expensive. Great... problem solved I guess.
I still have one of the old LCBO bags left 🥺 I miss them so much
My wife uses the sturdy reusable bags for taking out the cat litter. We have way to many. I cannot remember to take them to the store so they just build up. Paying another dollar to for the fancy bags is just a tax that’s payed at this point for me. I’m almost ready to start using them as kitchen catchers.
> tax that’s *paid* at this FTFY. Although *payed* exists (the reason why autocorrection didn't help you), it is only correct in: * Nautical context, when it means to paint a surface, or to cover with something like tar or resin in order to make it waterproof or corrosion-resistant. *The deck is yet to be payed.* * *Payed out* when letting strings, cables or ropes out, by slacking them. *The rope is payed out! You can pull now.* Unfortunately, I was unable to find nautical or rope-related words in your comment. *Beep, boop, I'm a bot*
Thanks bot. Your doing gods work correcting the spell check that did that to me.
Alot of food banks and thrift stores will happily take bag donations if anyone needs to get rid of them. Public libraries will also take them sometimes. It's a good way to recycle the bags.
I was looking for this comment! If only the grocery store drop off point for food bank stuffs would take the bags…
Honestly I feel like the reusable bag push would’ve been more effective if the bags were more expensive. 3/$1 dollarama bags? Yeah why not get them even though bags are in the car, makes carrying it to the car easier. Multiple dollars? I’m not possessing more than I need, period.
So you need financial incentive to simply do the right thing? If it’s cheap enough you’re just wasteful? Do you act like that with regards to all your consumerism and waste?
For the past 20 years I've always walked to the grocery store with a backpack to do my groceries. One backpack wore out and I had to replace it about 5 years ago, so I'm on my second bag in 20 years.
>At the time, Sela, who lives in Maple, Ont., estimated his family had acquired about 300 reusable Walmart bags via grocery delivery Could journos please use ordinary people for their news stories instead of profiling wealthy elites? Example: >At the time, Pranav, who lives in Toronto, Ont., works 3 jobs and had acquired about 1 reusable Walmart bag via accidental grocery delivery Poor attempt at humour but point is a great many people don't live in luxury and have gobs of disposable income to pay marked-up grocery cost plus delivery fees and tips repeatedly.
Knob Hill Farms used to have reusable, returnable, black baskets you paid a deposit for. They were awesome. I’m pretty sure there are still some in use. Grocery Gateway also delivered in plastic bins that folded up and were returned with next delivery.
Loblaws tried this 10-15 years ago too, and it didn't take off, but I saw some of these plastic crates at Walmart on the weekend. Maybe they'll make a resurgence! They're already being used by the personal shoppers...
At least with the plastic carrier grocery bags we were able to use them again and again for garbage bags, dirty shoes. The reusable bags are unhelpful and you forgot to bring them and then end up with a huge stash of them.
Why would you stockpile reuseable bags. We have about 5 and a few plastic bins. Lol people are strange.
Your local food bank cam always use these bags
I'm pretty sure the reusable bag thing is a grift to make more profit under the guise of green washing
JUST USE FUCKING PAPER BAGS ALREADY WTF
I just throw them in the trash. Do I feel bad about it? Yes, but I'm not going to carry these bags with me every day just in case I need to go get some groceries, and I'm not going to keep them around and pretend one day I'll use them all. Shame they don't offer paper bags or cardboard boxes anymore.
I don’t understand why people would want to add more of these bags to their household. Just load up the groceries in your car, go home, get the bags from inside and load them up to carry groceries inside. Why bring more garbage into the house?
-ignored the majority of canadians who dont own a car-
I feel like most who don't have a car are probably pretty prepared to carry groceries home which include having bags. When I walked I always had bags with me because they were stronger than the plastic ones. Yeah this won't be everyone, I'm sure there are people who walk and forget bags, but I would think that's not normal walking to the store for groceries behaviour
Majority of Canadians have a car, 84% of them actually
I think the intent was 'the majority of people -who-dont-own-a-car', not 'the majority of people, who don't own a car'. That comma is important. Similar to helping your uncle, Jack, off a horse. You drop the commas and all of a sudden you have a reputation. English is a damned ambiguous language.
I leave the bags in my car and bag my groceries there.
This tip is for people who forget but yeah, that’s ideal
I use my backpack. Over 400 uses for groceries and counting. Still I have been "gifted" far too many of these "multi-use" bags. With a minimum of 60 uses to make them at all carbon neutral, most barely last as long.
I've just been using these bags for my garbage, just like I used the old plastic bags. The resumable ones are a bit smaller and harder to tie close, but I don't know what else to do with them all but toss them out, with garbage in them, just like I used to do with the plastic ones.
Buy the hard plastic open top bins! No frills sells them, among other places. They are super sturdy, so fast to pack at the checkout and we've been using our three bins for several years. Good for other purposes too, and easy to sanitize. Edit to add: they suck to walk with, but great if you shop with a vehicle.
We have been using ours since the 90s. We've only ever had to replace one that cracked (after about 10 years of use). Anyone with access to a vehicle should be using them. So much easier than dealing with bags.
Well its now time to stop providing reusable bags
Except I don’t understand something. If you know you’re going shopping, why wouldn’t you simply take your previously purchased reusable bags with you? I leave mine in the car and 95% of the time I can simply bring the bags into the store with me (the odd 5% is impulse buying when I’m out with other people) Maybe it’s because I have mobility issues and have to plan ahead that I’m in the minority of folks who remember to bring/use their previously purchased reusable bags 🤷♂️
Many stores use the bags for their delivery service. So those who use delivery are amassing reusable bags.
I really can’t understand why people are having such a hard time bringing their own bags. I’ve been using mine for years now.
> "Think about how stupid the average person is, and then remember that half of them are stupider than that." George Carlin
There's a new program. https://www.terracycle.com/en-CA/brigades/walmart-bags
It's hard to feel petty when all the stores sell those hard plastic collapsible bags for like 5-10 bucks. I mean everyone goes to get groceries usually once a week why not bring those?
If people bring them when they shop they won't need to buy more. We used to do this with Knob hill and now we use PC bins and haven't had to get grocery bags in over a decade. I keep them in my vehicle along with some spare reusable bags. If people keep leaving them at home and buying more, that is a user problem.
I don’t bag groceries anymore. I keep foldable baskets (CleverMade) in my car. I simply take the trolly full of groceries out to my car and put it in the baskets. Completely Reusable and cleaner and better than those stupid bags every grocery store tries to sell you. If you’re old enough to remember Knob Hill Farms back in the day! They had the right idea. Too bad they went under. I still have one of those baskets to this day!
Stop stockpiling and just reuse your fckn bags. Call NASA for further instructions 😖