Environment

Support for a greener planet - 3/9/2010

Green Bag for Life

Since any single-use bag – whether paper, plastic, or biodegradable – consumes significant resources for limited utility, our policy is to make it as easy as possible for our customers to switch to reusable bags. We continually encourage our customers to use our Green Bags for Life as an alternative to plastic bags. Through cashier training to increase the number of items placed in each plastic bag, plastic bag consumption is also reduced.

Shifting from single use bags to reusable options not only reduces the amount of plastic entering the waste stream, but it also reduces emissions generated through the manufacturing and transportation process. To further bolster our efforts to reduce plastic bag consumption, cashiers are trained to efficiently pack groceries, offer customers the option of purchasing our re-usable bag “Green Bag for Life” and sticker larger or single items.

The bags are designed to hold more than 20 kg, the bag is machine-washable, contains a minimum of 20 percent recycled material and is 100 percent recyclable.

Since the introduction of the Green Bag for Life program, it is estimated that more than 9 million plastic bags have been diverted from the waste stream in Atlantic Canada.