News Release

Families Lose in Toronto as Council Imposes New Tax on Free Retail Plastic Bags

Tax Backfired in Ireland, Increased Use of Plastic Bags

ARLINGTON, VA (December 4, 2008) – The Toronto, Canada, City Council yesterday approved a new tax on consumers, requiring most stores to collect five cents from shoppers for each retail plastic bag that currently is provided free of charge.

The new tax likely will have negative effects on the environment.  When other communities have tried to tax or ban the use of plastic retail bags, shoppers have primarily switched to paper bags.  Paper bags require more energy to make and ship, generate more greenhouse gas emissions and result in more waste.  These communities also have found no reduction in the overall use of plastic bags or litter.

 “Communities that taxed or banned plastic grocery bags recently found that their efforts to help the environment actually had the opposite effect,” said Shari Jackson, Director of the Progressive Bag Affiliates of the American Chemistry Council, pointing to findings in Ireland and San Francisco.

• A tax on plastic grocery bags in Ireland has not reduced overall plastic bag use.  Consumers today use 10 percent more plastic bags than they did in pre-tax days, because shoppers instead purchase more plastic bags for use at home.
• San Francisco’s ban on plastic grocery bags did not decrease litter and caused shoppers to switch to paper bags which require 70 percent more energy to manufacture, produce 50 percent more greenhouse gas emissions and create five times more waste.

The new tax in Toronto could result in the demise of the city’s new program to collect plastic shopping bags for recycling.  These programs accept dry cleaning bags, newspaper bags and other plastic product wraps – so the City’s action may make it more difficult for consumers to recycle these other items. 

“Plastic is a valuable resource, too valuable to waste.  It should be recycled,” said Jackson.  “This tax will significantly undermine efforts to reuse and recycle plastic grocery bags in Toronto.”

Recycling of plastic bags and wraps grew 24 percent nationwide in the United States in 2006.  The Toronto measure represents a step backward from communities throughout North America that are taking advantage of a rapidly growing recycling infrastructure for plastic grocery bags.

About the Progressive Bag Affiliates
The Progressive Bag Affiliates of the American Chemistry Council promote the responsible use and recycling of plastic bags. The PBA recycling toolkit is being used by retailers around the nation as a reference for determining the best ways to deploy effective recycling solutions in stores.  For more information, please visit www.plasticbagrecycling.org.