In 2018, Canada announced their next big idea: BANNING SINGLE-USE PLASTIC.
Of course, now we're all being forced to wear billions of masks that are ending up in our oceans...
The provinces of B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Ontario, Quebec, and New Brunswick have all banned plastic checkout bags.
How will you bring your stuff home?
Well, most stores are now selling reusable or paper bags.
Annnd that's how they get ya!
The big problem is that small businesses are now stuck with inventory they aren't able to move.
The award-winning Liberty Distillery of Granville Island in Vancouver stocked up on biodegradable bags – 20,000 of them – and is now stuck with 16,800 of them that can't be given to customers under the new rules.
Even worse, the 2,400 of the bags that are biodegradable can't be used, as the City of Vancouver doesn't accept biodegradable products in their green bin organic program.
Lisa Simpson has no idea what to do with the bags.
(Sell on the black market perhaps?)
"We thought we were doing the right thing," Simpson told Global News, "It's incredibly frustrating."
"Knowing that instead of running down an inventory balance that's still providing use to a consumer, we're just going to mass dump I don't know where — an abyss?"
Simpson is facing a $3,000 loss on the cost of the bags, and the timing couldn't be worse. Small businesses, including Simpson's, have suffered over the last two years and continue to do so. Endless Covid-19 lockdowns, fewer customers and tourists. Plus there's all Canada's tariffs and supply chain issues.
Small businesses are hurting and now they're stuck with inventory they can't legally move!
Independent City Councilor Sarah Kirby-Yung suggested their best option is to donate the bags to charities... Because apparently, those in need are desperate for a liner for their trash.
Even worse, Simpson can only keep 250 paper bags in stock because they take up so much more space than plastic (and cost much more for transportation due to the excess number of trucks needed to ship them). She pays nearly half a dollar for the bags – over twice what she paid for plastic – and is charging a quarter for each.
"I am losing money on every single bag," she told Global News.
Then there's the massive amount of paper the government has no problem using.
Simpson ordered a single-use toolkit from the city to learn more about her options, and said she was surprised at the volume of paper that arrived by mail the next day.
A package one-inch thick with many duplicates in the same language stated that extra plastic shopping bags should be donated to charity as Kirby-Yung suggested, or sold to businesses outside of Vancouver.
Typical bureaucratic incompetence. Using an excess amount of paper to teach people how to be less wasteful.
P.S. Now check out our latest video 👇
