Walmart’s plastic bag ban leaves some customers saddled with mounds of reusable bags | 24CA News
When Walmart banned single-use plastic checkout luggage in April, buyer Larry Grant applauded the transfer — till he discovered himself drowning in reusable luggage.
Each week, Grant orders Walmart groceries for pickup at a depot close to his residence in Toronto. Due to the plastic bag ban, the retailer now packs his gadgets in reusable luggage — new ones for every order.
Grant estimates he has acquired about 300 over the previous six months.
“It’s a bit crazy,” he mentioned, pointing to a big pile of blue Walmart luggage stuffed within the trunk of his automotive. “In a month, I can be accumulating anywhere from 40 to 50.”
Single-use plastic buying luggage are on their approach out in Canada. Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and Newfoundland and Labrador have already launched bans, and on Tuesday, the federal authorities will start phasing them out nation-wide.
But the well-intentioned warfare on plastic luggage has had an unintended consequence: As a rising variety of retailers eradicate them, some consumers are amassing piles of reusable luggage — greater than they may ever reuse.
24CA News interviewed a number of Walmart grocery supply clients who mentioned that they are swimming in reusable luggage and that the retailer has merely changed one environmental drawback with one other.
“Banning the plastic bags was a great move, but it wasn’t thought through,” Grant mentioned. On at the present time, the weekly groceries for his household of 4 had been delivered in eight reusable Walmart luggage. Two of the luggage every contained only one merchandise.
“I’m really frustrated,” he mentioned. “I just hope they will think about this failure … and come up with a solution.
Hi, thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts. We welcome all feedback and have passed your message on to our appropriate department.
—@WalmartCanada
Why you need to reuse your reusable bag
When Walmart announced its plastic bag ban, the U.S.-based company said it was a win for the environment. The bags are problematic because they’re often difficult and costly to recycle. As a result, most end up in landfills or as litter that can enter waterways and harm marine life that mistakenly eat them.
Reusable bags are typically a better alternative — if they earn their keep. Several studies have found the bags must be used a number of times for them to have a less harmful impact on the environment than flimsy, single-use plastic bags.
“Generally talking, a reusable bag requires extra vitality and carbon to make relative to a single-use plastic bag,” said Cal Lakhan, a research scientist with the faculty of environmental and urban change at York University in Toronto.
“It tends to be sturdy and have considerably greater high quality, however that greater high quality comes at a price.”
A 2020 United Nations study estimated that in order for it to have less impact on the environment than a single-use plastic bag, a cotton bag needs to be used 50 to 150 times, while a durable, non-woven polypropylene bag (such as the blue Walmart one) must be used 10 to 20 times.
“Just as a result of one thing is reusable would not essentially make it good for the setting,” Lakhan said. “While I perceive and recognize the hassle to attempt to decrease single-use plastics, we have now to be very prudent in how we select to take action.”
What’s the solution?
Udi and Natalie Sela of Maple, Ont., north of Toronto, recently went through their stockpile of reusable Walmart bags, creating a sea of blue in their living room. The couple order groceries weekly from the retailer and estimate that, like Grant, they’ve received about 300 so far.
In October, Udi Sela complained to Walmart about the reusable bag problem. He’s still waiting for a fix.
“It simply creates extra waste, which is what we’re attempting to keep away from within the first place,” he said. “We cannot return them, we will not do a lot with them. There are higher methods of doing this.”
In an email, Walmart Canada said it’s exploring ways to cut down on the number of reusable bags in circulation, such as looking at alternatives to reusable bags for grocery delivery.
“We’re persevering with to be taught and modify alongside our clients,” company spokesperson Stephanie Fusco said in an email.
She did not provide data on how many customers use Walmart’s delivery service but said it’s available in most parts of Canada.
Metro, which operates in Ontario and Quebec, told 24CA News it has already found a solution. The grocer, which has also banned plastic bags, said it uses no bags for grocery delivery. Instead, goods are delivered in a returnable cardboard box or plastic bin. Customers choosing the bin option must collect their goods from it upon arrival.
Plastic bags will no longer be available at Walmart stores across Canada, a move some experts say is to get ahead of Ottawa’s proposed ban on disposable plastics slated to take effect later this year.
Loblaw Companies Ltd. — which operates such grocery stores as Loblaws, Zehrs, No Frills and Real Canadian Superstore — plans to implement a national plastic bag ban early next year. The grocer said it’s exploring sustainable options for grocery delivery, including a program where customers can return their reusable bags.
Loblaw did not answer questions about its delivery method for provinces that have already introduced a plastic bag ban.
Sobeys also did not offer details about its grocery delivery system, but 24CA News found the information on its website. Although Sobeys has banned single-use plastic bags at the checkout counter, according to its site, it still uses them for grocery delivery in Ontario. If customers return the bags, Sobeys says it will recycle them.
The retailer also offers grocery delivery in parts of Quebec and says on its website that it uses paper bags for those deliveries and for curbside pickup across Canada.
Several environmental experts argue that paper bags can actually be worse for the environment than single-use plastic bags.
“Cutting down forest inventory, processing, pulping, forming it into precise paper, that manufacturing course of itself tends to be extra vitality and water intensive,” Lakhan said.
Sobeys told 24CA News that its paper bags are compostable and made from 70 per cent recycled paper. The company also said it will soon shift to using paper bags for grocery delivery in Ontario.
What’s next?
More retailers will be searching for alternatives when, on Tuesday, the federal government bans the manufacture and import of several single-use plastics, including checkout bags. One year later, it will outlaw their sale in Canada.
To ensure Canadians don’t amass too many reusable bags, Environment and Climate Change Canada said in an email that it will work with stakeholders to educate consumers on the merits of reusing them.
The department did not mention any measures focused on retailers.
A recent single-use plastic and paper ban in New Jersey led to numerous complaints that grocery delivery customers were amassing too many reusable bags. The state is now considering remedies, such as requiring delivery services to establish programs to reuse or recycle customers’ unwanted bags.
