By Canadian Press

Montreal to fully ban plastic bags by end of 2020, mayor announces

Feb 5, 2020 | 11:43 AM

Montreal Mayor Valerie Plante says the city will move to fully ban the sale of plastic bags by the end of 2020.

Plante told a city council meeting today that the current measures that limit retailers to selling thicker bags haven’t worked to reduce the use of plastic.

She said the only real way to limit waste is to reduce it at the source.

In 2018, Montreal implemented a bylaw that banned lightweight plastic bags with a thickness of less than 50 microns as well as biodegradable bags, which contain an additive that causes them to decompose in heat and light.

The hope was that offering thicker bags would encourage people to reuse them, but Plante says that hasn’t happened.

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She tasked the city’s director general to begin working to modify the existing bylaw in order to fully ban plastic bags by the end of the year.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 5, 2020.

The Canadian Press