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[Black Republican]

my fellow Canadians, will this change your shopping habits?

Walmart Canada will begin to charge customers for plastic bags as part of its strategy for cutting the amount of plastic that ends up in landfills.

Beginning on Feb. 9, customers will be charged five cents each for plastic bags, with reusable bags available for a discounted rate of 25 cents each.

The company — headquartered in Mississauga, west of Toronto — said that the introduction of a small fee in other countries has helped Walmart to reduce the number of plastic bags by more than half.

Walmart says some of the proceeds from the new charge will go toward supporting recycling initiatives for grocery bags and other thin plastic objects.

The company said it’s also going to improve in-store recycling and collection programs and work with suppliers to find ways of removing plastic from its packaging.
Walmart Canada has 397 stores and serves more than 1.2 million customers per day.

http://www.thestar.com/business/201...ging-for-plastic-bags.html?platform=hootsuite

 

[crimzonflame]

I thought every store in Canada was already charging 5 cents a bag

 

[Gordon Shumway]

Oops. Read that wrong!

 

[BY2K]

There's still stores that doesn't do that?

 

[helloresolven]

Bring your own reusable bags?

 

[Gordon Shumway]

Bring your own reusable bags?

Yup..

 

[dallow_bg]

Bring your own reusable bags?

They work a hell of a lot better too.

 

[TheOnlyOneHeEverFeared]

We been doing this in the UK for ages, no big deal. Buy one of them reusable plastic bags, save cash in the long run.

 

[iamaustrian]

Good but citizens of earth need to replace plastic alltogether.
It's basicly humanitys second worst enemy.

 

[zweifuss]

I don't mind as long as they don't pack one item per bag as they do now. Holy Cow WalMart has the worst bag packers in the history of bag packing, it boggles the mind every time I go.

 

[Einchy]

Walmart plastic bags are GOAT trash bags.

 

[Quick]

When I worked retail, my store started charging 5 cents for plastic bags. It was tough the first year with people bitching at us about it, but a lot of the regulars soon got used to it and started either bringing a reusable bag or just carried their stuff out.

At one point, I was asked where the 5 cents would be going to, I said "supporting recycling initiatives". And I got reamed out by the customer for not being specific, but that was all the info I got.

But I guess the company got a ton of backlash from people over the charge, because they ended up going back to free bags after a few years.

 

[oti]

Many shops around here (Germany) don't sell plastic bags anymore. It's all about dat eco-friendly paper nowadays.

 

[darscot]

Plastic bags and stores drive me nuts. The whole system of everything needs its own bag and certain items are not allowed in a bag together. Where does this nonsense come from? Everything is its own package it doesn't matter. My wife does most of the shopping and keeps reusable bags in her car, the odd time I do the shopping I use plastic and they use at least 30-40% more than required. Why the fuck would I need a bag for a 4 litre jug of milk? I go pick up three things and they are not allowed in a bag together, its nonsense.

 

[jayhawker]

Walmart's bags are so thin they break with very little pressure. Cashiers get tired of complaining customers, so they're very generous with bags. They doublebag things that aren't heavy and otherwise refuse to fill a bag to anywhere near full. At this point, I think thicker bags would save plastic. But the real answer is reusable bags. It's easier for me to carry, saves Walmart money, and saves society money. Might be a bit slower at checkout but that's more a design problem.

 

[Arc]

Cambridge banned plastic bags all together. Hoping the rest of the Boston area follows suit or at least starts charging for them.

 

[ssharm02]

i agree with the previous poster. such a huge waste

people should bring their own bags and be responsible. now this going to make my job harder as a cashier. :/

 

[Apathy]

We had to pay 5 cents for bags in Toronto for a while, then rob Ford changed it and some retailers including Walmart went back to giving free bags, now they are going back to charging

 

[Baka Sempai]

Here in Los Angeles, some places charge up to 10 cents per bag.
Doesn't seem like much, but sure as hell has helped me remember bringing a reusable one whenever i go out shopping.

 

[ClosingADoor]

Always take my own bag grocery shopping. It's 20 cents or something here I think. Not much, but why waste plastic bags when you have a few at home anyway that you can use for months.

 

[Dubbedinenglish]

Will the cost of milk increase accordingly?

 

[Dennis]

We have been doing this in Denmark since forever. We have sturdy bags tho.

Not that flimsy NA shit.

 

[Keyouta]

Reusable cloth bags are much better anyway.

 

[Marvie_3]

More places need to ban plastic bags. Its not hard to carry cloth bags and theyre a lot sturdier than plastic bags anyway.

 

[Rootbeer]

You'll get used to it. I carry a reusable bag in my daybag, have to or i'd be spending $1 on disposable bags a week if I weren't careful. Course, I live in the Bay Area which is crazy land so even McDonald's tries to charge you $0.10 for a bag for carry out. City ordinance.

 

[jstripes]

Thank god.

You buy a bunch of stuff at Walmart, and the cashier will stick like two items in each bag. So you'll end up with 6 mostly empty bags when you might need two. Maybe now that'll change.


Ford Nation is gonna be pissed.

 

[jwk94]

Walmart plastic bags are GOAT trash bags.

This man knows. Got a huge pile for the bathroom.

 

[NetMapel]

While I agree plastic bags are wasteful, what is the alternative for getting plastic bag to put garbage in at home???

 

[RedSparc]

While I agree plastic bags are wasteful, what is the alternative for getting plastic bag to put garbage in at home???

.... paper bags? They don't even need a can.

 

[Cranster]

Bring your own reusable bags?

Not the best solution for meats though.

 

[A Grizzly Bear]

Not the best solution for meats though.

Bag your meat in the produce bags.

 

[jstripes]

While I agree plastic bags are wasteful, what is the alternative for getting plastic bag to put garbage in at home???

Stores sell these things called "garbage bags".

That, or you could simply ask for extra bags and pay 5 cents for them.

 

[DJ_Lae]

Good.

If the reusable ones are decent quality I might nab some at 25 cents - god knows their actual plastic bags are garbage. They rip if you put the smallest amount of weight in them.

No Frills probably has the sturdiest plastic bags at the moment. They're good for keeping depositable containers before I bring them out to the shed.

 

[Ivan 3414]

There's still stores that doesn't do that?

Try a metric ton of stores.

 

[jstripes]

Good.

If the reusable ones are decent quality I might nab some at 25 cents - god knows their actual plastic bags are garbage. They rip if you put the smallest amount of weight in them.

No Frills probably has the sturdiest plastic bags at the moment. They're good for keeping depositable containers before I bring them out to the shed.

Nothing beats the old LCBO bags. Those things were design to keep your wine bottles safe and sound.

 

[Forearm Star]

Wish more places in the US would move to this.
After a trip to San Fransico I started to bring bags with me every time I go shopping and the amount of minds being blown by it is sad.

 

[shadowkat]

I thought all stores did this already? It's been so long I barely remember when I didn't have to pay $.05 for a bag.

 

[Rktk]

I hope you Canadians enjoy chaos!

 

[NetMapel]

Stores sell these things called "garbage bags".

That, or you could simply ask for extra bags and pay 5 cents for them.

I store all the plastic bags I get from store and use them as garbage bag as needed. Pretty standard stuff ! I also shop wth reusable bags too. Guess I will need to pay 5c for garbage bags in the future then...

 

[kavanf1]

It's been like this in Ireland for well over ten years. When it was first announced, some people (and especially the tabloids) acted like the sky was falling. Everybody got on with it and it was no big deal.

Exactly the same thing happened in the UK a couple of years ago. I'm sure it will be the same story in Canada too.

 

[Madness]

While I agree plastic bags are wasteful, what is the alternative for getting plastic bag to put garbage in at home???

Pay 5 cents for each bag and continue shopping normally. But now many places sell biodegradable liners for trash/organic, plus you can always buy some if you want, they just won't be free from Wal-Mart anymore.

More often than not, I just take the hit and pay the extra cents to get bags, and use them for a lot of things. But when I shop a lot now, I have the fabric heavy duty reusable bags and those work great.

 

[BocoDragon]

Canadians already pay for bags at many stores. No one will even notice.

 

[LegendofLex]

Meanwhile, Walmart America keeps giving me way too many plastic bags because they only put 1-2 items in each one.

 

[Stoffinator]

Their bags are not worth 5 cents. They fall apart so easy.

 

[jstripes]

Their bags are not worth 5 cents. They fall apart so easy.

The point isn't what the bags are worth, the point is to cut down on waste.

That said, since they're gonna charge for them, they could maybe make them 5% more sturdy?