The use of plastic bags is coming to an end in Montreal. In less than a month, merchants will not be able to distribute them to their customers. The ban will take effect January 1 with a grace period of six months to comply with the regulation.

Montreal will become the first major Canadian city to ban most plastic bags. Thin bags, less than 50 microns thick, will be banned according to a recommendation by the Commission Permanente sur l’eau, l’environnement, le développement durable et les grands parcs, a group set up by former mayor Denis Coderre in 2016 to review the environmental and economic effects of a plastic bag ban.

Source: Keng Susumpow / CC BY 2.0Valérie Plante, the new mayor, elected in November, has cast doubt on the application of this bylaw and wanted to start a new study. However, Jean-François Parenteau, head of the environment committee, dispelled any ambiguity yesterday. "It's clear that we're going ahead," he told daily Le Devoir, "but traders will have until June 5 to comply with the new rules. And from January, there will be awareness campaigns. The six-month reprieve will allow merchants to adjust to the new regulations and sell their bag inventories.”

For customers who do not have reusable bags with them, merchants should offer thicker plastic bags (50 microns or more) or paper bags. "Small, thin bags have a major impact. They fly away and find themselves everywhere, in the trees, in the water," says Parenteau. "Only 14 percent of these bags are recycled. We must change this way of doing things. It's a global movement. We are not the first city to do it and not the last. That's why we did not want to go back."

Not everyone is happy with this regulation. In particular, the Quebec Food Retailers Association regrets that the city is moving forward without having the Québec Recycling Commission finish a study on the lifecycle of the various types of shopping bags, whether they are made of thin plastic, paper, cotton or recycled plastic. "It shows that it's a political act, because we do not rely on data," says Pierre-Alexandre Blouin, CEO of the association.

Montreal is not the first major city to implement this regulation. Several cities around the world have banned plastic bags in recent years. Among United States cities, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Long Beach, California, and Portland, Oregon, have bans in place. Other municipalities of the Communauté métropolitaine de Montréal will follow suit on Earth Day, April 22, 2018.