Banned or not banned? That is the question.

How informed are your customers?

Did you know that the City of Toronto was the birth place of Canada’s Blue Bin Recycling Programs? Many recycling initiatives across Canada look at Toronto’s program and collections as a guideline in building and reforming their own initiatives. The process of changing the current Blue Bin Program in Toronto is both lengthy and extensive. As we are all aware now, Toronto has added plastic bags to their Blue Bin Collection Program. The key dates and facts that you need to remember for your customer are as follows.

June 1, 2009 – All plastic shopping bags will be charged a $0.05 fee at all POS registers across Toronto. It is the retailer’s responsibility to post signage and inform their customers that they are collecting this fee when the cash transaction is being completed.

June 2010 – All plastic shopping bags with ECM and biodegradable additives are now banned. Any establishment that uses plastic shopping bags with ECM or biodegradable additives will be fined.

As the supplier for many of these products, it is our responsibility to make sure that our customers are aware that this ban will be coming into effect for June 2010. The City of Toronto has designated a 1 year period for all retailers in Toronto to use up and dispose of their ECM / biodegradable bags.

Other Municipalities in the area, such as Vaughan, do not have this ban in effect. Make sure when discussing this issue with your customers they are aware that as a US or Canadian Retailer they are responsible for following the guidelines imposed by this ban on all locations within Toronto. They will be fined if they do not comply.

Luv2Pak offers many great poly bag alternatives. Below are pictures of some of our favorites!