Re: “The case against a plastic bag ban”
These bans are positive and a necessary step and they do raise awareness. We use disposable things without thinking about the consequences.
Plastic bags use non-renewable resources; such as crude oil. A few plastic bags are recycled, but still often end up in landfills. Canadians use between nine and 15 billion plastic bags a year, enough to circle the Earth more than 55 times, according to Greener Footprints. US citizens use about 100 billion a year!
Plastic bags are bad and for most part unnecessary. Many of us older folks remember a time, only a few decades ago, when we didn’t have them. It is not an excuse to damage the environment just for convenient.
In other countries, e.g. Germany, customers get charged for plastic bags (five to 25 cents each) or get taxed on plastic bags as part of a strategy for cutting the amount of plastic.
California has had a plastic ban since 2014, Edmonton, Montreal, Toronto, and Quebec are considering a plastic ban, and Granville Island public market in Vancouver got rid of plastic bags this month.
A nation-wide plastic bag ban is in no way a violation of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. We are only free to do what which does not harm others, such as our planet’s ecosystems.
We have to think global but act local — do your part: use shopping bags for our children’s future
Karin Leja, Winlaw