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Posted Anonymously
Plastic bag tax
Oct 18 2010, 9:52 PM EDT | Post edited: Oct 18 2010, 9:52 PM EDT
I can't understand the opposition to the bag tax. This has saved thousands of bags from landfill and I see the benefit all the time when I shop. Ridiculous to want to repeal this. 1  out of 1 found this valuable. Do you?    
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LarryPerlman
LarryPerlman
1. RE: Plastic bag tax
Oct 19 2010, 3:11 AM EDT | Post edited: Oct 19 2010, 3:11 AM EDT
Thank you for the comment.

My view on the plastic bag fee is based on my experiences shopping in Toronto and Vaughan (which has no bag fee by the way), as well as watching retailers simply give up and break the law with impunity (not only in Ward 7 but downtown Toronto as well)..

The fact is, the plastic bag fee is unenforceable and there are better means to curtail our use of these products. While less plastic bags are being used today because of the tax to a degree, strategies such as leading by example, a more effective ad campaign to VOLUNTARILY use less plastic bags and the promotion of canvas bags is a much better idea. It seems that every festival my family goes to in Toronto has canvas bag giveaways -- a great promotional idea!

I would even be in favour of a complete ban on plastic bags in Toronto instead of watching customer after customer purchase four or five plastic bags each time they shop at the local supermarket.

Let's eliminate the annoyance factor of having a cashier ask if you need bags, stop the huge profit margins by selling these bags, and stop assuming that charging 5 cents (6 cents including HST) will be effective in the long run.

Either ban them altogether or find a better means of educating consumers on the merits of NOT using them... Do you find this valuable?