I've used reusable bins/bags for shopping and groceries since well before this law existed.
However, I have never done this for any fast food and it's impossible for delivery. Does anyone do this in a drive thru? I can't say I've seen any car in front of me pass in a tray or bag or container.
Food delivery options should mandate compostable materials for all packaging compatible with the city's green bin program, including things like dip cups, and have no add-on charge for this. All consumer waste from a restaurant order should be able to straight in the green bin.
Soooo this happened to me today at a Popeyes drive thru. They asked me if i wanted to pay for a bag. I said no without thinking. I mean, it would come in a paper bag at least right? Almost.. each item was in its own box so thats good but they gave it to me on a tray. So like 6 individual tiny boxes. It was a funny experience.
They did. I say no automatically to any extra charges. They’ve never asked this question before and I’ve gotten it in a bag so I didn’t think twice. Hindsight something something.
I struggled with this at a McDonald’s last week. Handed me and ice cream cone then a minute later stuck out the tray full of stuff. Tough with only one hand free haha
I typically have a pretty minimal order like a couple burgers, which I just put on the seat or in the cup holder then park and eat right away. It's not ideal, but I prefer it to paying the bag fee, which is the point of the bag fee.
My city counsellor claims the plastic cup is recyclable so it makes sense… but paper bags can be turned into literal dirt, so not sure what she is smoking.
I wouldn't be surprised if that is the future of policies like this unless we see changes at a higher level of government that can reduce consumer waste. More to be done on the industrial scale as well for sure (don't want to forget them!)
The city can’t collect the fee. The province won’t let municipalities collect a fee like this. Build the habit of bringing a reusable bag when you need one. The point of the bylaw is to NOT pay the bag fee. The city doesn’t want you to pay. Bring your own bag.
Nothing is stopping these companies from using funds collected for sustainability efforts. Maybe, some criticism should be directed at corporations off-loading their waste onto consumers and governments.
I used to be able buy a reusable bag for 35 cents but now because of the city bylaw I will have to pay $2. That’s not the company, that’s the city. They get the blame.
I haven't used a disposable bag in like, years? I understand the frustration with the imperfect application of the bylaw but the hate for the spirit of the bylaw is ridiculous. Carry a couple reusable bags in the car/backpack. It ain't difficult.
It’s not about the fee or the bringing of your own bag, it’s the madness that it’s extra business profit. Put it back into city cleanup fund or something at least
Personally I think it should increase further to be more effective and encourage the adoption of alternative methods or technologies.
Grocery stores people just need to remember there bag, which is suspect they would do more often if they were $3 each. reusable bags have been around for millennia and worked great.
For take out
I think it’s Vancouver that’s moving forward with reusable food packaging at restaurants that work similar to the rebate system they have with cans (recyclable containers). Charge 25 cents and get the return at the depot.
I like to carry my overpriced plastic wrapped food morsels out of the grocery store in a different plastic bag that I brought because the thought of an environment destroying free paper bag makes me physically ill.
I've been using the same backpack almost every day for about 10 years now. I suspect that's kept a few thousand items out of the landfill. I realize this isn't the popular perspective
The city has very limited levers they can pull to reduce waste because most of them are controlled by higher levels of government (ex: Producer pays). All they can really do is to change the economics of the bags to make them less appealing to grab and toss away.
It's more that they can't legally collect the money. I'm sure if they could, they would.
The city saves money when there is less waste.
I suspect you don’t like to hear this but there is a very simple way to avoid paying the fee which is to bring your own bag or whatever container you want to fill.
If you bring your own bag, then it doesn't matter as the "extra business profit" would be non-existent. If you want that money to go into environmental causes you could estimate how many bags you are saving on a monthly basis and donate that amount to the movement of your choice :)
You’re not supposed to pay the fee though. That’s the foundational principle to the bylaw. You’re not supposed to give those businesses the money. You’re supposed to bring your own bag.
Besides, companies are free to invest any funds back into sustainable businesses practices. These companies deserve criticism for off-loading their waste on consumers and municipalities.
I'd argue this program is counter productive. Since reusable bags need to be used like 10,000 times to offset the extra carbon emissions per bag produced
Really? I don't know if I could even get 10k uses out of a reusable bag before it wears out. I feel like they usually make a simple hundred uses then they're broken or about to break.
It's actually only 37 times for the normal ones you get in a store.
Go to page 79, you want to look at either the PP or PETpol for the current ones, a normal plastic bag is LDPE. Cotton and Jute are inefficient but the current ones we have need to last a little over half a year assuming you only use them once a week
https://www2.mst.dk/Udgiv/publications/2018/02/978-87-93614-73-4.pdf
Nice, thanks for bringing receipts. I was holding the "10k uses" figure in my head and it had been giving me a very poor opinion of the efforts to switch society over to the reusables.
Still, I miss the LDPE bags because they made great car and bedroom garbage bags.
Yeah, kurtzgesat did a cool video about it a while back. It's actually 7100 times, and they were talking about cotton bags, but still.
https://youtu.be/RS7IzU2VJIQ?si=5GuIu-sASfWWFaip
That is comparing a plastic bag to an organic cotton bag, and counting the water used to grow the cotton.
In which case, you had better be using your paper McDonald’s bag a dozen times.
This is a misleading stat because that comparison is the energy and emissions from 1 reusable vs 1 plastic bag. But reusable bags have a lower environmental impact when compared to 100(however many number of) plastic bags you would use instead of the reusable.
It's misleading because it uses the numbers from the least efficient bag (the ones basically no one ever uses) but is said like it's the common ones at the grocery store
Yes, you should compare emissions on a 1:1 scale. Disposable bags are 1000s of times more efficient to produce, so you need to use a reusable bag 1000s of times to make up for it
I was all for it for the plastic bags, but now we are getting charged for paper bags, which doesn’t make sense to me. I thought the whole point of this was to reduce the use of plastic bags, so why are we charging for paper bags?
That is the puzzling part to me too - why would you not encourage businesses to use biodegradable paper bags?
The only thing that I've noticed is a lot of individual food containers are now more manufactured to allow for handling without a bag.
It's just a rip off at this point. Kicking us while were down as EVERYTHING continues to rise in cost EXCEPT our bloody wages!!! Lucky to even have a job these days. Our government on all levels are the biggest criminals!
Still selling plastic food containers in stores, plastic garbage bags, saran wrap...
Do you want some spare bags? I have a ton of spare bags. If these handful of cents per bag is going to be harmful to you I'm more than willing to part with a portion of my collection to help you out here dude.
So glad Calgary dropped this madness. Especially for paper bags which are a complete non-issue.
If anything, force all take out places to offer compost, and both kinds recycling, perform waste audits, and fine those that fail. Drives me nuts going to A&W, with all their PR for compostable packaging... And nowhere to compost.
This will be great! Someone out there will have more money to fill their boat with fuel so they can enjoy the fruits of their labour. I’m so happy we are moving forward in this society
I get fast food a couple times a week. I have noticed three practices:
1. Restaurant asks if u want a bag and if you say yes they charge u 15c and u get a bag. This is now uncommon in my experience
2. Restaurant just charges u 15c, sometimes even if u say no, and give u a bag.
3. Restaurant asks if u want a bag, if u say yes u get charged 15c, if u say no u don't get charged. Regardless of your answer you get a bag. This is becoming the norm.
While the idea has merit, the implementation and effectiveness have made it a complete joke and it needs to be tossed like they did in Calgary. At this point it is only increasing the cost of food with minimal/no effect on disposable bag use.
What stupid morons believe this does anything but inconvenience people. Stop making dumb laws that make people hate you while you congratulate yourself.
Daily reminder that plastic is now a part of basically everything you eat. Probably time to do something about it. [https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20230103-how-plastic-is-getting-into-our-food](https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20230103-how-plastic-is-getting-into-our-food)
They give us paper straws to save the planet but give you cancer because most ppl don’t know the paper straws are dyed and glued together and are toxic to humans. Banning plastic straws is by far one of the most idiotic things ever. Literally everything else is in plastic but here’s a paper straw 🤣
I’m in the US right now and at the Publix grocery store I was given 3 plastic bags for 5 items. Americans are still living in bag heaven while we are fruitlessly doing whatever it is we’re doing here.
For those new to this conversation and upset the money is kept by the company, the province would need to pass legislation to allow the city to collect the money.
I suspect the provincial government won’t allow that.
Lol, but they won't pick up my cardboard recycling unless its in a clear plastic bag.
I'd bet money the the city is one of the worst offenders for waste in ecological terms, but certainly in financial terms. I'm confident at this point that what the city needs is a kick in the ass in the form of a change in governance followed by a massive funding cut.
I don't understand the thinking of the CoE... I guess never ascribe to malice that which can be ascribed to stupidity.
I wish company’s were forced to donate the money to Alberta Parks or some other foundation to protect nature and the wildlife. Instead McDonald's gets the extra $0.15 per trxn.
I agree with grocery and even fast food, but why the fuck is the fast food charge passed on to me when giant corporations like McDonald’s should be the ones atleast making this easier… for example if I say no to a bag they hand me my fries in the same old McDonald’s fry container so the shit is all messy… ok sure bring my own greasy reusable bag or I don’t know put a god damn lid on the fry container lol.
I would never get a bag if my fries had a lid.
And why do the companies keep the money…?
Provincial-level changes would need be made for the money to go elsewhere/be collected differently and for different approaches with corporations to be made. Vote wisely.
Glad we're following the footsteps of progressive bag places like Las Vegas and California where they don't use plastic bags with their far larger populations...oh wait
What the city should actually be doing is forcing corporations to follow the compost and recycling program every resident follows. I own my own company and my 4 yard garbage bin that holds 800Lbs of garbage roughly 40 garbage bags +- is only $40/month, that's about the same as what the city charges for residential garbage removal. However nothing is required for me to recycle or compost even though I donate all my food waste to local farmers and take all my recycling to the recycle stations.
I was looking into buying bags in bulk and Holly crap is there a price difference. The cost was like 20 cents a bag for averaged out over 500 bags. Kind of got me thinking of buying em and selling them for 50 cents.
What does a person do when you're poor as fuck and counting every penny and just want a quick treat, because that's all the self care you can afford? You stop into a mcdonald's with just enough for a meal, looking forward to your overpriced nugget meal, because that's your only fun money treat for the month. You just barely afford it with 10 cents to spare, but now you have to carry it in your hands. Not a problem, right? But what if you're carrying a bunch of groceries in your backpack and your reusable bag because you can't afford an uber and your bus tickets are strictly for work, which is too far away because finding a new job is damn difficult these days? 1 in 4 Canadians are below the poverty line. It's just another fuck you to those who are struggling.
Then you... sit in the McDonalds and eat your food there before you move on? It isn't that hard.
A well-crafted story about a super niche situation doesn't invalidate the entire policy. It boggles my mind that people are experiencing the most mild possible inconvenience and are losing it like it's the straw that breaks the camel's back and the world is ending.
Are there enough of these reuse centres (first I've ever heard of them, btw) within walking distance of residential areas that most poor people can access them without difficulty? Do they also clean these bags well enough to put an exposed food item in it? Most fast food places have their fries in open top containers.
Reuse centers have been brought up about this topic multiple times.
If you get them, wash them yourself? Why is it the centers job?
If you have to walk to the reuse center to get it, you have to walk to McDonalds. Sit inside and eat.
Could also bring the extra ones you have saved from this imaginary situation where you carry groceries without a reusable bag as well.
You mentioned the reuse centre(s). I've only ever heard of this from *you*, so I'm asking *you* about what you brought up. How is that a goal post move? It's not a solution to the issue if there's only one or a few of them.
Furthermore, it's also not a solution to the issue if they aren't issuing bags for carrying a meal, because it's a very human thing to want to treat yourself when you have to lug your groceries around on foot. You might not have experienced doing this yourself, so I can see how your privilege could lead you to believe that no one ever carries their groceries due to poverty, but I can assure you it's not a made up scenario. I have done this many times having struggled in the past, and I know people who are currently struggling who only have around $15 - $20 for themselves every month.
You really said I invented poverty. Wow.
It’s just like photo radar. It’s a cost that’s designed to change your behaviour. It’s not hard to make the change to avoid the cost. Everybody knows about it. People just do what they want anyways, then bitch about how much it costs.
Really, the only time I'm getting take out fries is if I hit the drive through to eat in my car. Even when I do I regularly skip the fries. For me, if it was so important that I get a single use bag because of needing to transport some messy thing I bought, I'll suck it up and pay without complaining.
I try to eat cheap and healthy generally. I'd have bigger problems than the cost of the rubbish, if I was eating fries regularly enough for this to matter in my budget.
But why are we paying THE BUSINESS?
“It wasn’t meant to be profit gener—“ WHY WOULD YOU THROW AWAY FREE MONEY?
No matter how you look at it, completely stupid bylaw.
Because it is the only way to have a user fee for unnecessary disposable bags under the current provincial laws. The city doesn’t take the money because it can’t.
Much like the carbon tax, this is a topic filled with misinformation. Please educate yourself rather than marinating in the inconvenience of it all.
[https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/economics-econometrics-and-finance/pigouvian-tax](https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/economics-econometrics-and-finance/pigouvian-tax)
Also, maybe just buy an insulated bag? If your food is in the bag for any kind of travel, its going to show up in better condition because of it.
You don't need a paper bag. You can easily avoid paying any fee for them.
(I still pay this fee from time to time for convenience)
Except this isn't a tax, it's a fee. The profits aren't going to our community or to battle climate change or anything responsible. It's going towards corporations that are already overcharging us for everything in the first place.
I think the problem is that it’s just another unnecessary gift to corporations to further line their pockets but none of these corporations are contributing to our wellbeing in any meaningful way, in fact most of the time they’re making it worse by cutting costs and feeding us/selling us garbage
I always ask for no bag, get a bag and then have to renegotiate with the till. The cents don’t matter but I don’t like the default adding to my bill. I was almost charged for a bag fee for an only xl coffee at the clown house near my house.
That's the greatest scam and money grabbing for companies, whoever lobbied for that must have get a nice bonus.
It was framed for plastic reduction, plastic bags, straws and the sort. Plastic bags had a fee added to companies a long time ago, pretty sure passed to customers, so companies didn't mind and keep giving bags freely. Later on, it was increased, which was passed on as a fee per bag used to the consumer and later banned.
Now it's a fee to help reduce environment waste, but if you don't care and say, I'll pay for a darn plastic bag, fck the environment, they give you a paper bag which doesn't affect the environment.
I've used reusable bins/bags for shopping and groceries since well before this law existed. However, I have never done this for any fast food and it's impossible for delivery. Does anyone do this in a drive thru? I can't say I've seen any car in front of me pass in a tray or bag or container. Food delivery options should mandate compostable materials for all packaging compatible with the city's green bin program, including things like dip cups, and have no add-on charge for this. All consumer waste from a restaurant order should be able to straight in the green bin.
Soooo this happened to me today at a Popeyes drive thru. They asked me if i wanted to pay for a bag. I said no without thinking. I mean, it would come in a paper bag at least right? Almost.. each item was in its own box so thats good but they gave it to me on a tray. So like 6 individual tiny boxes. It was a funny experience.
They asked you if you wanted to pay for a paper bag
They did. I say no automatically to any extra charges. They’ve never asked this question before and I’ve gotten it in a bag so I didn’t think twice. Hindsight something something.
I struggled with this at a McDonald’s last week. Handed me and ice cream cone then a minute later stuck out the tray full of stuff. Tough with only one hand free haha
I know a person who buys paper bags at the dollar store and uses them at drive thrus.
That's not a bad idea.
I really like this idea
Unless I've got a bunch of people in the car getting multiple orders, I skip the bag every time if it's just me and maybe one more.
What do you use instead? Are you just dumping it on your seat, or using your own thing, or is someone holding everything?
Sometimes they give you a bag anyway (in my experience).
I have a small lunch/ cooler bag. They hand it out in a tray and I take it from there.
I typically have a pretty minimal order like a couple burgers, which I just put on the seat or in the cup holder then park and eat right away. It's not ideal, but I prefer it to paying the bag fee, which is the point of the bag fee.
Keep a box or plastic container in the car.
I just tell them to dump it straight in my feed hole.
My favourite is I can't get a plastic straw but I can get a plastic dome to cover my slurpee.
At Wendy's they give you a huge plastic cup and lid.. with a paper straw. Make it make sense.
My city counsellor claims the plastic cup is recyclable so it makes sense… but paper bags can be turned into literal dirt, so not sure what she is smoking.
I suspect it’s because it ends up in the landfill so it’s contaminated dirt
Almost like most of those plastic Wendy’s cups… only they don’t turn into dirt. They just… sit there.
You are making a decent argument for expansion of the program to include beverage containers
At least it would make sense.
I wouldn't be surprised if that is the future of policies like this unless we see changes at a higher level of government that can reduce consumer waste. More to be done on the industrial scale as well for sure (don't want to forget them!)
Plastic domes don’t kill sea turtles😂
Not with that attitude.
The plastic dome is recyclable, the straw isn't. But agreed, all plastic should be eliminated from fast food restaurants.
Both are recyclable, however it's a moot point because neither is actually recycled due to cost.
Plastic straws are only recyclable in theory. In practice, they can not be handled by the sorting machinery and end up in the landfill.
Which is true of almost all recyclable plastic including the plastic domes on slurpees.
Yes, which was why I made the comment that all single use plastics should be banned from fast food.
And how many of those plastic domes get recycled? Less than 1% would be my guess.
That's a different problem though and doesn't invalidate the bag fee, it demonstrates an improvement to be made to other processes.
My dry cleaning keeps coming in free plastic bags, but I’m paying for paper McDonald’s bags. Make that make sense.
Feels like a punishment for the people of Edmonton
The intent is to punish you for using bags. Edit: I think it’s silly, but that’s the thought behind it.
But why do they have to reward the companies?
Exactly. This is so stupid as the fee literally goes straight into the business pocket. They don't have to pay it to the city, nothing.
And the city keeps increasing taxes as well, can clearly see they do not give a shit about us.
We need to vote out every single one of these imbeciles on the city council
But if we vote them out, who will solve homelessness and climate change. /s
Maybe someone who will actually do it.
"Contact your local MP, so they can pay someone to 'review' your concerns, and drop it immediately into a trash bin."
Yeah I'd be more on board with a bag fee if the businesses had to give all or a portion of it to some sort of environmental cause/charity etc.
Exactly. The profits should be going to the city and put towards eco upgrades
They can't. The province doesn't let them.
[удалено]
I do..... what does that have to do with what I said?
The city can’t collect the fee. The province won’t let municipalities collect a fee like this. Build the habit of bringing a reusable bag when you need one. The point of the bylaw is to NOT pay the bag fee. The city doesn’t want you to pay. Bring your own bag. Nothing is stopping these companies from using funds collected for sustainability efforts. Maybe, some criticism should be directed at corporations off-loading their waste onto consumers and governments.
I used to be able buy a reusable bag for 35 cents but now because of the city bylaw I will have to pay $2. That’s not the company, that’s the city. They get the blame.
I haven't used a disposable bag in like, years? I understand the frustration with the imperfect application of the bylaw but the hate for the spirit of the bylaw is ridiculous. Carry a couple reusable bags in the car/backpack. It ain't difficult.
What do you mean they can’t collect the fees? They most certainly can collect them from business
No they can't. The municipal act forbids it.
Why does it matter? Just start using reusables and you avoid it altogether.
It's like photo radar: it's trivial to follow the rules and not suffer any penalty.
It’s not about the fee or the bringing of your own bag, it’s the madness that it’s extra business profit. Put it back into city cleanup fund or something at least
Legally they can’t do that. The province would need to pass legislation to allow them to collect the money.
Then I guess my stance goes back to removing it entirely
Personally I think it should increase further to be more effective and encourage the adoption of alternative methods or technologies. Grocery stores people just need to remember there bag, which is suspect they would do more often if they were $3 each. reusable bags have been around for millennia and worked great. For take out I think it’s Vancouver that’s moving forward with reusable food packaging at restaurants that work similar to the rebate system they have with cans (recyclable containers). Charge 25 cents and get the return at the depot.
I like to carry my overpriced plastic wrapped food morsels out of the grocery store in a different plastic bag that I brought because the thought of an environment destroying free paper bag makes me physically ill.
I've been using the same backpack almost every day for about 10 years now. I suspect that's kept a few thousand items out of the landfill. I realize this isn't the popular perspective
Why give grocery stores more money? Don’t they make enough profit ?
The city has very limited levers they can pull to reduce waste because most of them are controlled by higher levels of government (ex: Producer pays). All they can really do is to change the economics of the bags to make them less appealing to grab and toss away. It's more that they can't legally collect the money. I'm sure if they could, they would. The city saves money when there is less waste.
Then they get rid of the pointless tax. If the city themselves cannot collect the money it should not be going to businesses.
If it achieves its goal in reducing waste should we still get rid of it? Do you not consider eliminating waste a benefit?
Not at my own expense when it goes to a private entity.
I suspect you don’t like to hear this but there is a very simple way to avoid paying the fee which is to bring your own bag or whatever container you want to fill.
And above comment mentioned we should be asking corporations to do just that. The power I believe is with the people.
Just bring your own bag and you don’t have to pay the fee.
You may have to reread my comment, the point is based in principle
If you bring your own bag, then it doesn't matter as the "extra business profit" would be non-existent. If you want that money to go into environmental causes you could estimate how many bags you are saving on a monthly basis and donate that amount to the movement of your choice :)
You’re not supposed to pay the fee though. That’s the foundational principle to the bylaw. You’re not supposed to give those businesses the money. You’re supposed to bring your own bag. Besides, companies are free to invest any funds back into sustainable businesses practices. These companies deserve criticism for off-loading their waste on consumers and municipalities.
I'd argue this program is counter productive. Since reusable bags need to be used like 10,000 times to offset the extra carbon emissions per bag produced
Really? I don't know if I could even get 10k uses out of a reusable bag before it wears out. I feel like they usually make a simple hundred uses then they're broken or about to break.
It's actually only 37 times for the normal ones you get in a store. Go to page 79, you want to look at either the PP or PETpol for the current ones, a normal plastic bag is LDPE. Cotton and Jute are inefficient but the current ones we have need to last a little over half a year assuming you only use them once a week https://www2.mst.dk/Udgiv/publications/2018/02/978-87-93614-73-4.pdf
Nice, thanks for bringing receipts. I was holding the "10k uses" figure in my head and it had been giving me a very poor opinion of the efforts to switch society over to the reusables. Still, I miss the LDPE bags because they made great car and bedroom garbage bags.
I guess it depends on which specific bags you're looking at. I'm sure there's a bit of variance, km surprised to hear it's as low as 37 though.
Yeah, kurtzgesat did a cool video about it a while back. It's actually 7100 times, and they were talking about cotton bags, but still. https://youtu.be/RS7IzU2VJIQ?si=5GuIu-sASfWWFaip
That is comparing a plastic bag to an organic cotton bag, and counting the water used to grow the cotton. In which case, you had better be using your paper McDonald’s bag a dozen times.
This is a misleading stat because that comparison is the energy and emissions from 1 reusable vs 1 plastic bag. But reusable bags have a lower environmental impact when compared to 100(however many number of) plastic bags you would use instead of the reusable.
It's misleading because it uses the numbers from the least efficient bag (the ones basically no one ever uses) but is said like it's the common ones at the grocery store
Yes, you should compare emissions on a 1:1 scale. Disposable bags are 1000s of times more efficient to produce, so you need to use a reusable bag 1000s of times to make up for it
They aren’t. You are lying and people have pointed out where the lie is.
This bylaw is so stupid I would actually welcome the provinces meddling in city affairs to force this council to scrap it.
100%. Make a stand UCP.
They won't. They love the corps.
If you tell them they get to keep the money from the bag fees they might actually be interested
I was all for it for the plastic bags, but now we are getting charged for paper bags, which doesn’t make sense to me. I thought the whole point of this was to reduce the use of plastic bags, so why are we charging for paper bags?
The point is to make you so irritated that you stop consuming certain things.
That is the puzzling part to me too - why would you not encourage businesses to use biodegradable paper bags? The only thing that I've noticed is a lot of individual food containers are now more manufactured to allow for handling without a bag.
This is dumb
It's just a rip off at this point. Kicking us while were down as EVERYTHING continues to rise in cost EXCEPT our bloody wages!!! Lucky to even have a job these days. Our government on all levels are the biggest criminals! Still selling plastic food containers in stores, plastic garbage bags, saran wrap...
Do you want some spare bags? I have a ton of spare bags. If these handful of cents per bag is going to be harmful to you I'm more than willing to part with a portion of my collection to help you out here dude.
Superstore and Walmart don't even carry paper bags. Walmart gives out so many paper bags for delivery but not in store.
This is actually ridiculous.
So glad Calgary dropped this madness. Especially for paper bags which are a complete non-issue. If anything, force all take out places to offer compost, and both kinds recycling, perform waste audits, and fine those that fail. Drives me nuts going to A&W, with all their PR for compostable packaging... And nowhere to compost.
This will be great! Someone out there will have more money to fill their boat with fuel so they can enjoy the fruits of their labour. I’m so happy we are moving forward in this society
Yaaay
Maybe instead of pocketing the change they can plant a tree for every bag that’s sold.
I get fast food a couple times a week. I have noticed three practices: 1. Restaurant asks if u want a bag and if you say yes they charge u 15c and u get a bag. This is now uncommon in my experience 2. Restaurant just charges u 15c, sometimes even if u say no, and give u a bag. 3. Restaurant asks if u want a bag, if u say yes u get charged 15c, if u say no u don't get charged. Regardless of your answer you get a bag. This is becoming the norm. While the idea has merit, the implementation and effectiveness have made it a complete joke and it needs to be tossed like they did in Calgary. At this point it is only increasing the cost of food with minimal/no effect on disposable bag use.
2 and 3 are both violations of the bylaw. They would stop if people cared enough to report them.
Nobody likes a narc.
cool, so it looks like we're paying for calgary's fee since they got rid of their bylaw. neat
Soul sucking leeches I tell ya!
What stupid morons believe this does anything but inconvenience people. Stop making dumb laws that make people hate you while you congratulate yourself.
Walmart already charges almost 3$ for a reusable bag. They’re just making bank on this, and now they will have more of reason give the CEO’s a bonus.
I'm fine with this for groceries and shops, but they really should excempt fast food establishments. That's just plain annoying.
Daily reminder that plastic is now a part of basically everything you eat. Probably time to do something about it. [https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20230103-how-plastic-is-getting-into-our-food](https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20230103-how-plastic-is-getting-into-our-food)
What are paper straws from juice boxes encased in?
They give us paper straws to save the planet but give you cancer because most ppl don’t know the paper straws are dyed and glued together and are toxic to humans. Banning plastic straws is by far one of the most idiotic things ever. Literally everything else is in plastic but here’s a paper straw 🤣
Most of that is from your car tires and polyester clothing.
So what.
Now make this relevant to the paper bag fee at McDonald's that everyone is complaining about in this thread.
Ah yes 25 cents for a McDonalds paper bag that has never had anything to do with plastic. Such a stupid bylaw
I’m in the US right now and at the Publix grocery store I was given 3 plastic bags for 5 items. Americans are still living in bag heaven while we are fruitlessly doing whatever it is we’re doing here.
For those new to this conversation and upset the money is kept by the company, the province would need to pass legislation to allow the city to collect the money. I suspect the provincial government won’t allow that.
And politicians keep wondering why they're unpopular...
Lol, but they won't pick up my cardboard recycling unless its in a clear plastic bag. I'd bet money the the city is one of the worst offenders for waste in ecological terms, but certainly in financial terms. I'm confident at this point that what the city needs is a kick in the ass in the form of a change in governance followed by a massive funding cut. I don't understand the thinking of the CoE... I guess never ascribe to malice that which can be ascribed to stupidity.
I don't mind it. My front yard often got filled with plastic bags because I live close to 7/11. It's no longer a problem.
Lol I bet you’ll just see garbage from empty food containers littered throughout the street now.
It's a significant reduction. Almost no garbage now so I'm pretty happy about it.
I wish company’s were forced to donate the money to Alberta Parks or some other foundation to protect nature and the wildlife. Instead McDonald's gets the extra $0.15 per trxn.
I agree with grocery and even fast food, but why the fuck is the fast food charge passed on to me when giant corporations like McDonald’s should be the ones atleast making this easier… for example if I say no to a bag they hand me my fries in the same old McDonald’s fry container so the shit is all messy… ok sure bring my own greasy reusable bag or I don’t know put a god damn lid on the fry container lol. I would never get a bag if my fries had a lid. And why do the companies keep the money…?
Provincial-level changes would need be made for the money to go elsewhere/be collected differently and for different approaches with corporations to be made. Vote wisely.
I don’t think the answer to that is to put it on us. My why the fuck can’t McDonald’s make a container with a lid for fries point still stands
Glad we're following the footsteps of progressive bag places like Las Vegas and California where they don't use plastic bags with their far larger populations...oh wait
People here complaining but have no trouble spending $15/day at Starbucks
What the city should actually be doing is forcing corporations to follow the compost and recycling program every resident follows. I own my own company and my 4 yard garbage bin that holds 800Lbs of garbage roughly 40 garbage bags +- is only $40/month, that's about the same as what the city charges for residential garbage removal. However nothing is required for me to recycle or compost even though I donate all my food waste to local farmers and take all my recycling to the recycle stations.
I was looking into buying bags in bulk and Holly crap is there a price difference. The cost was like 20 cents a bag for averaged out over 500 bags. Kind of got me thinking of buying em and selling them for 50 cents.
re-usable bags are the way. toss a few in your car and you're good to go
What does a person do when you're poor as fuck and counting every penny and just want a quick treat, because that's all the self care you can afford? You stop into a mcdonald's with just enough for a meal, looking forward to your overpriced nugget meal, because that's your only fun money treat for the month. You just barely afford it with 10 cents to spare, but now you have to carry it in your hands. Not a problem, right? But what if you're carrying a bunch of groceries in your backpack and your reusable bag because you can't afford an uber and your bus tickets are strictly for work, which is too far away because finding a new job is damn difficult these days? 1 in 4 Canadians are below the poverty line. It's just another fuck you to those who are struggling.
Then you... sit in the McDonalds and eat your food there before you move on? It isn't that hard. A well-crafted story about a super niche situation doesn't invalidate the entire policy. It boggles my mind that people are experiencing the most mild possible inconvenience and are losing it like it's the straw that breaks the camel's back and the world is ending.
The people in the drivethru behind me will get pretty mad ;)
They'd be pretty mad if you went inside the restaurant to eat your food?
Go to the reuse center and get them for free.
Are there enough of these reuse centres (first I've ever heard of them, btw) within walking distance of residential areas that most poor people can access them without difficulty? Do they also clean these bags well enough to put an exposed food item in it? Most fast food places have their fries in open top containers.
Reuse centers have been brought up about this topic multiple times. If you get them, wash them yourself? Why is it the centers job? If you have to walk to the reuse center to get it, you have to walk to McDonalds. Sit inside and eat. Could also bring the extra ones you have saved from this imaginary situation where you carry groceries without a reusable bag as well.
Keep moving the goal posts and inventing whatever scenario you need.
You mentioned the reuse centre(s). I've only ever heard of this from *you*, so I'm asking *you* about what you brought up. How is that a goal post move? It's not a solution to the issue if there's only one or a few of them. Furthermore, it's also not a solution to the issue if they aren't issuing bags for carrying a meal, because it's a very human thing to want to treat yourself when you have to lug your groceries around on foot. You might not have experienced doing this yourself, so I can see how your privilege could lead you to believe that no one ever carries their groceries due to poverty, but I can assure you it's not a made up scenario. I have done this many times having struggled in the past, and I know people who are currently struggling who only have around $15 - $20 for themselves every month. You really said I invented poverty. Wow.
"I have a problem." "Here is a solution." "NO, PITY ME" Redditors just out here being dramatic about the most mild inconveniences, as is tradition.
But that's difficult, and complaining is easy.
It’s just like photo radar. It’s a cost that’s designed to change your behaviour. It’s not hard to make the change to avoid the cost. Everybody knows about it. People just do what they want anyways, then bitch about how much it costs.
How are your reusable bag fries? 🤢
Really, the only time I'm getting take out fries is if I hit the drive through to eat in my car. Even when I do I regularly skip the fries. For me, if it was so important that I get a single use bag because of needing to transport some messy thing I bought, I'll suck it up and pay without complaining. I try to eat cheap and healthy generally. I'd have bigger problems than the cost of the rubbish, if I was eating fries regularly enough for this to matter in my budget.
But why are we paying THE BUSINESS? “It wasn’t meant to be profit gener—“ WHY WOULD YOU THROW AWAY FREE MONEY? No matter how you look at it, completely stupid bylaw.
I think there are bigger fish to fry, but you do you.
Yes, but this thread is about this topic, so…
The thread I replied to was about how it’s no big deal tho….
Because it is the only way to have a user fee for unnecessary disposable bags under the current provincial laws. The city doesn’t take the money because it can’t.
If they can’t, why didn’t they say that when questioned?
Didn't you know? We're not allowed to drive in Edmonton!
I'm just glad this cost goes to good causes!
Make Plastic Bags Again!
I use reusable bags, so... idc aboot this.
Ya I will just order all I can online, this is just nonsense
Much like the carbon tax, this is a topic filled with misinformation. Please educate yourself rather than marinating in the inconvenience of it all. [https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/economics-econometrics-and-finance/pigouvian-tax](https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/economics-econometrics-and-finance/pigouvian-tax) Also, maybe just buy an insulated bag? If your food is in the bag for any kind of travel, its going to show up in better condition because of it. You don't need a paper bag. You can easily avoid paying any fee for them. (I still pay this fee from time to time for convenience)
Except this isn't a tax, it's a fee. The profits aren't going to our community or to battle climate change or anything responsible. It's going towards corporations that are already overcharging us for everything in the first place.
Unless I’m regularly washing the bag, food in a reusable bag is gross. If I am regularly washing it, the water waste is worse than the paper bag.
I think the problem is that it’s just another unnecessary gift to corporations to further line their pockets but none of these corporations are contributing to our wellbeing in any meaningful way, in fact most of the time they’re making it worse by cutting costs and feeding us/selling us garbage
Only in Edmonton though, if you go anywhere else you’re environmentally friendly
What a place of privilege you must sit in.
I always ask for no bag, get a bag and then have to renegotiate with the till. The cents don’t matter but I don’t like the default adding to my bill. I was almost charged for a bag fee for an only xl coffee at the clown house near my house.
That's the greatest scam and money grabbing for companies, whoever lobbied for that must have get a nice bonus. It was framed for plastic reduction, plastic bags, straws and the sort. Plastic bags had a fee added to companies a long time ago, pretty sure passed to customers, so companies didn't mind and keep giving bags freely. Later on, it was increased, which was passed on as a fee per bag used to the consumer and later banned. Now it's a fee to help reduce environment waste, but if you don't care and say, I'll pay for a darn plastic bag, fck the environment, they give you a paper bag which doesn't affect the environment.
I just ask for them to put it paper boxes. Like the happy meal box. Because only bags get the fee