Decision to ban plastic shopping bags based on bad information, says CPIA

MONTREAL (Scrap Monster): The Canadian Plastics Industry Association (CPIA) has blamed the decision by the City of Brossard to impose ban on plastic shopping bags this fall. The plastic bag industry in Quebec had earlier alleged that the decision is based on almost 10-year old recycling data.

According to CPIA press release, the City’s decision is neither based on any socio-economic impact analysis nor any public consultation. The Association has highlighted a number of factual errors and lack of knowledge of sustainable practices in the regulation. The motion does not have the backing of any research, it notes. CPIA warns that the move based on old data could probably cause serious harm to the environment.

CPIA notes that the very definition of plastic bags by the municipality is inaccurate. The City states that plastic bags are designed for single-use. However, CPIA claims that plastic bags are actually multi-purpose and multi-use bags. Surveys indicate that over 60% of plastic bags are re-used at least twice or more. Secondly, the City states that there are several millions of plastic bags in circulation in Quebec. But, in fact, Ministry data suggests that there are only about a billion plastic bags in circulation in the province as on 2012. Also, plastic bag volumes have steeply declined by 52% between 2007 and 2010. Thirdly, the City resolution exempts paper bags from the ban. However, paper bags are single-use and its manufacturing process leads to more greenhouse gas emissions than for plastic bags.

The Canadian Plastics Industry Association is the national voice of the plastics industry in Canada, representing the interests of processors, material suppliers, equipment manufacturers and brand owners across Canada since 1943.