Sobeys becomes first Canada-wide grocer to ban single-use plastic bags
Posted Jan 29, 2020 04:48:00 PM.
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Sobeys is removing single-use plastic grocery bags from all of its 255 grocery stores in Canada by the end of this week.
Sobeys is the first national Canadian grocery retailer to ban single-use plastic bags, which will take 225-million plastic grocery bags out of circulation annually.
The company says, “Knowing that plastic use is not something we can recycle our way out of, it will take a combination of reducing, reusing and recycling to make an impactful and sustainable change.”
After January 31, Sobeys Inc.’s other banners — including Safeway, FreshCo, Foodland and others — will work to phase out single-use plastic checkout bags at their stores.
More information and dates will be shared regarding those decisions when available.
According to the Canadian government, 15-billion plastic bags are used in Canada every year.
Sobeys says the average plastic bag is used for just 12 minutes and it takes over 500 years to decompose in landfill.
In 2019, the Canadian government announced plans to “ban harmful single-use plastics as early as 2021 in an effort to reduce the 3-million tons of plastic waste tossed out by the country every year.”
The grocer is encouraging its customers to bring their reusable bags each time they grocery shop. If you forget, Sobeys sells large reusable grocery bags for 99 cents, smaller reusable bags for 25 cents, and paper bags are available for 10 cents, with a portion of paper bag sales going to plant trees in Canada.
