Sustainability
October 25, 2022

Single-Use Plastic Bags

As part of government legislation, Wild Rose Co-op no longer has single-use plastic check stand bags available for purchase at any locations, as of January 1 2023.

Wild Rose Co-op customers who forget their reusable bags when shopping at the Camrose, Killam and Sedgewick Food Stores, and the Home and Farm Centre in Sedgewick can purchase a reusable cloth bag for as little as 33cents or 3 for $1.00. There will be the opportunity for customers to choose paper bags at a cost of 15cents per bag. 

Delivery orders will be delivered by the grocery teams via cardboard boxes.

For Online orders through shop.crs, customers can let the grocery team know if they have reusable bags in their vehicle in the notes section and the team will pack your items in the bags upon delivery. If you don't have reusable bags your order will be brought to your vehicle via cardboard boxes. On shop.crs, you can purchase reusable bags and add them to your grocery order.

FAQ's

Q: Why should plastic bags be eliminated?
A: The Federal Government has mandated that plastic checkout bags can not be manufactured or imported for sale in Canada after December 20, 2022, and will be not able to be sold in Canada after December 20, 2023. This is due to the fact that Plastic bags are not biodegradable. When plastic bags become litter, they pollute oceans, farmland, cities, and neighborhoods. Bans eliminate bags, which equals less litter and less pollution. 

Q: Why not switch to paper bags as an eco-friendly alternative?
A: Paper bags are recyclable, but paper is very resource heavy to produce. Manufacturing a paper bag takes about four times as much energy as it takes to produce a plastic bag, plus harmful chemicals in production. Studies shown that, for a paper bad to neutralize its environmental impact compared to plastic, it would have to be used anywhere from three to 43 times. 

Q: Will you offer paper bags?
A: Yes. Although we are eliminating plastic bags, we will have paper bags available (as a back up) for 15 cents bag. Wild Rose Co-op still strongly encourages customers to bring in their reusable bags. 

Q: Are you still going to have bags for fresh produce?
A: Yes. However, we encourage that customers switch to our special reusable Co-op Gold Mesh Produce Bags. These reusable bags have been made specifically to work with our weight scales at our checkouts. You can purchase these in any of our Food Stores. 

Q: I see other single-use plastics and disposables at your food stores. What will you be doing next?
A: Federated Co-operatives Ltd. has signed on to the Canadian Plastics Pact (CPP) on behalf of the Co-operative Retailing System, which includes Wild Rose Co-op. By signing the Pact, the CRS is committing to four targets by 2025:

  • Define problematic or unnecessary plastic packaging and create a strategy to eliminate them.
  • 100% of plastic packaging to be reusable, recyclable, or compostable
  • 50% of packaging is recycled or composted
  • 30% recycled content across all packaging

While these targets may seem ambitious, we are not starting from scratch. In 2019, a cross-commodity working group was formed to source alternative packaging options for the CRS.


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