The plastic shopping bag, or as we call it in the Maritimes the “Sobeys Bag,” may have seen it’s day.
In 2009 Loblaws introduced the 5¢ to Superstore’s locally, and Sobeys did not follow suit causing a backlash at Superstore and an eventual retreat of the policy. Loblaws does follow their national policy of charging for bags at No Frills locally. Superstore as well did leave the Quinpool location as a bag free store.
Recently jurisdictions all over Canada have been implementing bylaws on plastic bags, limiting the thickness, implementing a mandatory fee or completely banning stores from using them.
Earlier this year, Walmart had announced they would install 5¢ bags nationwide, and customers in Miramichi yesterday started receiving notices that they would be 5¢ next month.
This move into New Brunswick shows the nickel bag is coming our way too.
I use recycled cloth bags as much as I can. The NSLC went to paper a while back, and we have never had bags at Costco. I think the time has come and in 5 years our “Sobeys bag” will just be another cultural icon. Even the bags Sobeys uses in places like Alberta isn’t the thick bag we know; you get a thin crinkly bag out there.
