Bags and Bottles - Toronto Makes a Move

Fed up with the limited effects of attempts to persuade retailers and consumers to cut their consumption of plastic bags at the supermarket checkouts, the authorities in Toronto have followed the example set a few years back in the Irish Republic by introducing a new 5 cents charge for each bag used. But they have gone a step further and introduced a ban on sales of bottled water in council premises and also put in a ban on the use of biodegradable and compostable plastic bags. What is not clear is whether this new charge is a tax or a fee! A tax generates revenue that can be ear-marked for investment in other environmental projects such as recycling schemes. But a fee on plastic bags can be collected by the retailer and presumably add direct to their own profits. My local Sainsbury store charges 50p for one of those rather large (and useful) carrier bags and I have a steadily mounting collection of them in my cupboard because of my persistent failure to take one with me when I go shopping.

More here