With regard to the government’s estimates on the efficacy of its Single-use Plastics Prohibition Regulations: (a) how many fabric, as defined in section 2 of the Textile Labelling Act, checkout bags (hereinafter “fabric checkout bags”) were purchased at major Canadian grocers annually between 2015 and now; (b) how much gross revenue did major Canadian grocers make from the sale of fabric checkout bags annually between 2015 and now; (c) how many fabric checkout bags were sent to landfills annually between 2015 and now; (d) how many times, on average, are fabric checkout bags reused in Canada before being discarded; (e) how many times, on average, are single use plastic checkout bags reused in Canada before being discarded; (f) what percentage of fabric checkout bags does the government estimate are recycled; (g) what percentage or fabric checkout bags does the government estimate eventually end up in a landfill; (h) what research, if any, has the government undertaken to determine how many reuses of fabric checkout bags would be needed for them to be deemed as a viable environmentally-friendly alternative to single-use plastic checkout bags, including, but not limited to, factors such as (i) carbon insensitivity in manufacturing, (ii) energy use in manufacturing, (iii) comparative impact on landfills when discarded; and (i) if the government does not have the information for any of (a) through (h), why does the government not track such information or why was the research not completed?
In the House of Commons on March 20th, 2024. See this statement in context.