Single-use plastic shopping bags are now a thing of the past in the south shore community of Brossard.
In February, city council voted to unanimously adopt a bylaw banning the single-use bags despite stiff opposition from Quebec’s plastics industry.
READ MORE: Plastic industry wants Brossard to back off proposed shopping bag ban
As of Thursday, merchants can only provide paper bags made from 100 per cent recycled materials, or thicker reusable plastic bags.
Although retailers that fail to comply with the new regulations could be fined, Mayor Pierre Leduc said the city would use an approach based on common sense and tolerance to enforce the ban.
In 2012, the City of Toronto backtracked on its plans to ban plastic bags, a move applauded by retailers, taxpayers’ advocates and environmentalists alike.
READ MORE: Toronto city council votes to scrap planned bylaw banning plastic bags
Environmental groups argued that paper bags were harder to recycle and consumed three times the energy to produce.
Leduc said the city could modify the bylaw pending results of a Quebec government environmental study on the lifecycles of different bags.
Montreal voted to implement a similar ban which comes into effect in January 2018.
*With files from Vicky Fragasso-Marquis, La Presse Canadienne
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