Laval’s ban on plastic bags and single-use cutlery kicks in Thursday

A bylaw banning plastic bags in Laval, the third most populous city in Quebec, comes into effect Thursday.

This means that it will no longer be possible for Laval merchants to offer, sell, distribute or make single-use plastic bags available to consumers.

There are, however, exceptions. Plastic bags used for hygiene or bulk purposes, those for dry cleaning, and bags for industrial processes, and the marketing of prepackaged products, will not be prohibited.

Under the new by-law, effective May 4, 2022, catering and food businesses will also be prohibited from distributing single-use cutlery intended for landfills.

The ban is intended to reduce waste, encourage sustainable development, protect the environment, and help preserve natural resources.

Between 1.4 and 2.7 billion shopping bags, mainly plastic bags, are distributed each year in Quebec and barely 14 per cent of them are recovered, according to Laval officials.

Several other municipalities in the Montreal Metropolitan Community (CMM) have taken similar initiatives to ban single-use plastic bags.

Plastic bags have a significant impact on both land and marine ecosystems, as it takes 1,000 years for plastic bags to degrade in landfills and their production requires petroleum products and water and generates greenhouse gases.