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Which is funny because at most Canadian grocery stores they don't even offer or have paper bags. At least in Alberta.
First it was pain. But it took only few months to adapt and now everyone are bringing bags to the store with then.
Fruit and veggie sections have paper bags, but also those sections offer canvas bags for the eco aware.
There was a similar thread for Germany here recently, and I remember someone saying that most companies will just start using multi-use plastics instead of single-use ones... without reusing them. Is that really likely or am I not foolish to hope that companies will eventually just research and use more biodegradable materials?
So if I can sell you a product in a multi-use container, pass the cost to you, and you decide to throw it away after a single use, that's what's going to happen.
If instead it's more affordable to use compostable plastics or non-plastics (e.g. aluminum), then that's what will be done.
My hunch is with low oil prices and the high cost to manufacture biodegradable plastics, the first path may unfortunately become popular (biodegradable plastics runs for roughly 10x standard plastic.)
There was a similar thread for Germany here recently, and I remember someone saying that most companies will just start using multi-use plastics instead of single-use ones... without reusing them. Is that really likely or am I not foolish to hope that companies will eventually just research and use more biodegradable materials?
This is a hard problem. A ban will not fix it and may have perverse effects like increasing usage and pollution.
What is so damn bad about paper? Paper is mostly renewable (or can be) and is very biodegradable. Why not just make better paper bags
Aren't there many legitimate uses of single-use plastics? Like medical products? What will Canada replace them with?
> Trudeau did not specify the products to be banned, but said likely candidates include plastic bags, straws, cutlery, plates and stir sticks “where supported by scientific evidence and warranted.” I don't think legitimate medical uses of single use plastics are at risk here, as long as no reasonable alternative exists.
speaking of, what is the scientific evidence like for banning single use plastics? eg. the uk and denmark government found that single use plastic bags aren't worse for the environment than paper bags.
https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/...
I remember reading somewhere that some bottled product replaced plastic with glass, which weighs more, which led to an increase in trucks required, which led to more of a carbon footprint, which is also bad.
I remember reading somewhere that some bottled product replaced plastic with glass, which weighs more, which led to an increase in trucks required, which led to more of a carbon footprint, which is also bad.
Interesting side-note: here in Vancouver BC, we were full steam ahead on eliminating plastics (e.g. styrofoam take-out containers, plastic drinking straws, shopping bags, etc.) but that was seemingly all instantly reversed once social distancing started. I can understand the reversal of charging for shopping bags to encourage bringing reusable bags: reusable bags are potentially a disease vector. But what's with the…
Which is funny because at most Canadian grocery stores they don't even offer or have paper bags. At least in Alberta.
What would be the point of offering paper bags, when they can instead sell you their high-margin reusable cloth bags (which are common in Canadian grocery stores)?