City Waste: Papa's Got a Brand New Bag

The Toronto Star is reporting today about the City's plan to divert 70% of household waste from the dump by 2010.

According to the article, 2.5 billion plastic grocery bags are consumed in the province each year, at a rate of 4 bags per person per week. They can't be recycled right now, and even though there are plans to introduce plastic bag recycling next year, there are no solid plans in place.

When I moved into my current apartment, I quickly accumulated a hoard of plastic bags from buying groceries and housewares. It got to the point where I was trying to find bigger bags to put all the smaller bags in. I switched to just 2 reusable bags last July, and watched as my plastic-bag stockpile dwindled to nothing over the course of a few weeks.

Most major grocery stores now carry reusable bags for about a $1. There's no need to wait until the City starts recycling plastic bags because plastic bags are unnecessary in the first place. Reusable bags are easier to carry because the wider straps don't hurt the hands even under a heavy load, and I've never used more than 2 bags on any given grocery run because they fit a lot of items.

The article also states that A&P/Dominion stores accept used plastic bags, "which it ships to a US company that recycles them into new bags and plastic lumber."