The Act establishes that no business shall provide a checkout bag to a customer; for greater certainty, no business shall sell or provide to a customer a plastic bag or provide a checkout bag, other than a paper bag, to a customer free of charge. A business may provide a checkout bag to a customer only if (a) the customer is first asked whether, and confirms that, the customer needs a bag; (b) the bag provided is a paper bag or a reusable bag; and (c) the customer is charged a fee of not less than $1 for a reusable bag. The Act consider few exemptions: bags used to package loose bulk items such as fruit, vegetables, nuts, grains or candy; package loose small hardware items such as nails and bolts; contain or wrap frozen foods, meat, poultry or seafood, whether prepackaged or not; wrap flowers or potted plants, protect prepared foods that are ready for immediate consumption or bakery goods that are not pre-packaged; contain prescription drugs received from a pharmacy, transport live fish, protect linens, bedding or other similar large items that cannot easily fit in a reusable bag; protect newspapers or other printed material intended to be left at the customer’s residence or place of business; protect clothes after professional laundering or dry cleaning; package medical supplies ; protect tires.
Canada · 2018-01-01