e-4549 (Environment)

Petition to the Government of Canada

• In December 2023, the Government of Canada will outlaw single-use plastics across the country, including Calgary Co-op’s 100% compostable shopping bags;
• This is despite the fact that the Calgary Co-op states that their bags contain no plastic whatsoever and are engineered to break down at local composting facilities within a 28-day timeframe;
• Calgary Co-op says their bags are extremely popular with their members and are often re-used as bin liners for household organic waste, constituting a second use;
• Calgary Co-op has successfully kept over 100 million plastic bags out of landfills with the use of their compostable shopping bags;
• The City of Calgary supports the use of the Calgary Co-op compostable bags, stating that they do fully break down in their composting facilities;
• Furthermore, the federal ban as it stands now allows for Calgary Co-op to sell its compostable bags on store shelves but prevents them from selling these same bags a few feet away at the checkout, which makes little sense and does very little to limit their use; and
• This unnecessary ban could send signals that stifle the adoption and development of environmentally responsible products.