Just how far can the government go with costly and inconvenient environmental regulations of questionable benefit before citizens decide they have had enough of it?
Canada’s plastic grocery bag ban was annoying and expensive as shoppers had to switch to paper or reusable bags for their purchases. The environmental benefit of the ban is questionable as paper bags are a product of logging and reusable bags are typically made from petrochemical products.
Still, Canadians grumbled, shrugged, and got into the habit of using reusable bags.
Straws and plastic cutlery have been banned and replaced with paper and wooden products. Paper straws are virtually useless, as are flimsy wooden forks. On top of the annoyance factor, the extra consumer cost for these items is expected to be $205 million in 2024.
The proposed ban on plastic wrap for meats and produce will be expensive, and even more inconvenient for shoppers than prior plastic bans.
The Environment Department says a ban could be in place by the end of 2023, though they have no recommendations on what the plastics could or would be replaced with. They issued a statement inviting feedback from grocers with a hard deadline for submissions at the end of August. This sounds like a ministry that’s going through the motions rather than genuinely seeking input. They are offering minimal time but want to be able to say they created their policy in consultation with the industry.
Plastic wrapping on meat products offers several benefits to grocers and consumers.
The plastic wrap is cost-effective and takes up little space in grocery stores. If those stores are suddenly banned from using plastic wrap on fish and meat products, it will wreak havoc in the stores.
The only conceivable substitute for plastic wrap on fresh meat products would be butcher’s paper. The paper is heavy, expensive, coated in petroleum products, and isn’t transparent. Stores would have to change the equipment in their meat departments, set aside storage space for paper wrap, and possibly add staff.
People want to see the meat they are purchasing for the sake of quality and freshness. Will the long meat and fish coolers filled with pre-wrapped fresh products be replaced with spaces to line up and order meat products from workers who will wrap them individually? While that may bring back romanticized memories of going to the butcher, it will also increase the cost of the products and the time spent in the store. People are already pressed for funds and time as it is.
Products vacuum wrapped in plastic have a longer shelf life as well. It reduces food spoilage and keeps the cost down. It allows meats to be frozen in the store or at home for extended periods. Paper wrapping doesn’t do that.
Then there’s produce.
Think of separating all your fresh produce into paper bags which will tear open if there is any moisture on the produce. Unless of course the bags are coated with petroleum products like butcher paper. At the checkout, every bag will have to be opened and checked before weighing due to lack of transparency. Then one must hope the produce isn’t contaminated by the chicken or pork leaking from the butcher’s paper as you take it home in your reusable, plastic-based grocery bags. The cost for the extra paper will of course be passed on to the consumer.
With all that expense and inconvenience, one has to ask what the environmental benefits are. Wax or plastic-coated paper can’t be recycled. Trees must be cut and energy is consumed to produce it. Thin, plastic packaging is easily produced and doesn’t take up much landfill space.
Is the environment really the priority with these bans?
Environmentalists have been decrying the production and consumption of meat for a long time. If the banning of plastic wrap for fresh meat and fish products doesn’t benefit the environment, perhaps the goal is to push people away from meat products. It’s an underhanded way to do so, if that’s the case.
Will this be the final straw, though?
Will consumers finally speak up and push back against these expensive and annoying bans?
Tough times create active citizens. When the grocery costs spike further, people will speak up. I certainly hope so.
The time to tell Guibeault to back off is now, not after the damage is done.
