The industry’s trade association, the Retail Council of Canada, said the new policy “unfortunately” targets large grocers exclusively.
“Which is impractical, as Canadian retailers lack direct control and influence over the global supply chain,” said Michelle Wasylyshen, the council’s national spokesperson.
Are people mad about this?
I rather my egg cartons come in recyclable cardboard than the weird ass plastic thing. Milk used to come in glass bottles. Peanut butter and jam too. Theres absolutely no fucking reason to put bananas in a plastic Ziploc bag.
Y’all want more microplastics?
Completely forgot that you guys have literal milk bags. lol
I don’t think I’ve ever seen an egg carton that isn’t out of recycled paper though. For glass stuff there’s at least an argument to be made about weight, but in regards to drinking water it should ideally be unnecessary anyway through clean tap water.
I’m in the US, but I’ve seen plenty of plastic egg cartons. Most are paper, but plastic isn’t uncommon in my experience.
The only plastic cartons for eggs I’ve seen were clear plastic ones for colored Easter eggs.
Completely forgot that you guys have literal milk bags. lol
Packaged together in another plastic bag, then placed in yet another plastic bag at checkout. It is the Russian doll of consumer packaging.
Milk used to come in glass bottles
I don’t want more glass (deposit and all) unless they go back to milkmen delivering it and taking away the empties. And even then, that wouldn’t work because of the delivery costs.
I have so much glass I have to take to the recycling depot and it’s not worth your time and gasoline to do it.
Milk is generally better off in plastic than glass for emissions reasons, unfortunately. Glass is too heavy
Avalon Dairy in BC uses glass bottles, and grocery stores which sell them take them (in exchange for your $1 deposit) and send the bottles straight back to Avalon. They get cleaned and reused directly. If you’re at the store, you can look closely at all the bottles and find the dates they were first used. Alas, I’ve kind of gone off getting them now that we’re using 2L bottles of milk every week - the bigger bottles are extra bulky and my nearest grocery store doesn’t sell Avalon.
I’m still a big fan, though. It’s a good system, it genuinely causes the bottles to be reused (instead of just not made out of plastic, or “recycled”), and it’s so simple. We could easily have this for everything if we regulated (or at least incentivized) specific containers for groceries, at least for things packaged domestically. No more needlessly complicated special jars for different brands of maple syrup. If every company used the same containers, when they reach the recycling depot (hopefully intact, although that’s another problem) we could actually do something sensible with the things.
… Canadian retailers lack direct control and influence over the global supply chain…
I’m going to call BS on that one. Some of the largest retailers own many parts of the supply chain and exercise monopsony power over many other parts.
They have downstream control, but not upstream control. It is the upstream that is demanding plastic packaging here, particularly plastics which have transparency. For some reason they want to be able to see the food before buying it.
Obviously something I hadn’t considered. On the other hand, we buy plenty of canned and boxed food without being able to see the food itself, so this may be just a matter of forcing us to adjust. Although I’m not sure that I can ever be convinced to buy most meats without being able to see it.
we buy plenty of canned and boxed food without being able to see the food itself
It is quite true that the upstream doesn’t demand plastic for plastic’s sake, it demands plastic only when it provides a real utility. Granted, even cans are typically lined in plastic and boxes often contain plastic bags to allow the product to remain self-stable and fresh. If the customer can’t see the product, they expect some guarantees about its quality, and plastic can help with that.
Supermarket chains have plenty of control and influence over their supply chain.
Michelle, my friend, rethink your career as a corporate cockglober.
Nobody with a drop of knowledge of how this world works would buy this bs.
Supermarket chains have plenty of control and influence over their supply chain.
Absolutely. The customer holds all the cards. But, likewise, the supermarket chains are beholden to their customers, and those customers have shown a clear preference towards the use of plastics. How do you convince them to change?
Vote with your bulging wallets.
You’re the ones who choose what products you put on your store shelves.
You should clarify that you’re talking about the retailers, not the consumers. It took me a couple tries to get it and I don’t think any of the other commenters did.
Not really as a lot of stores don’t have equally-priced options. Packaged produce is often much cheaper than loose and prices being what they are, many of us have to choose the cheaper option.
The gov’t is supposed to be here to protect us, not the businesses that force us to buy what they offer.
This is the best summary I could come up with:
Ottawa announced earlier this month that it’s introducing a policy to require Canada’s largest supermarket chains to develop and roll out plans to cut their plastic waste footprint.
Some major grocery chains have started moving away from these forms of plastic packaging already by choosing alternatives like glass jars, which can be returned, cleaned and refilled.
In response, businesses could pivot to a bring-your-own-container model, or offer shoppers products in plastic or glass packaging that, once emptied and cleaned, could be returned for reuse.
The government is introducing these measures through what it calls a P2 notice requiring major grocery chains to develop plans to reduce plastic waste and report publicly on their progress.
“Which is impractical, as Canadian retailers lack direct control and influence over the global supply chain,” said Michelle Wasylyshen, the council’s national spokesperson.
“In the meantime, we continue to encourage the government to invest in innovation and foster collaboration with all stakeholders to meet our plastic waste reduction objectives,” she said.
The original article contains 1,118 words, the summary contains 156 words. Saved 86%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
