49th Parallel should stop plastic bag us in stores
Dear Peter Richmond, Esq.:
I am a long-time loyal customer of your great 49th Parallel store in Duncan and I look forward to shopping at your new Berkey’s Corner store.
However, I am urging your company to ban single-use plastic bags now. Please replace them with truly compostable and paper bags (paper bags are now thankfully offered by 49th) in all of your busy stores.
And please continue encouraging your customers to use cloth bags to avoid use of all single-use bags.
Paper and compostable bags can be used in North Cowichan’s remarkably popular Kitchen Pitch-In organics recycling program.
In fact, today’s federal government Throne Speech aims to ban single-use plastic bags by next year.
That means 49th Parallel would be ahead of that national bag-ban curve if your plastic bags are banned now.
Peter, it would also prevent those thousands of 49th Parallel bags from entering our landfills, recycling centres and environment between then and now.
Incidentally, biodegradable bags — versus eco-friendly compostable bags — are still plastic. Everything does break down over many decades, but plastics keep polluting.
Many local folks dutifully refuse to use plastic shopping bags that are a global eco-problem.
In fact Peter, Bench School students pitched such a plastic-bag ban years ago to all levels of Cowichan governments. Sadly, the kids’ prudent ideas were never given action, just talk.
That leaves such a plastic-bag ban on the shoulders of great entrepreneurs, such as the 49th, that truly care about our precious yet ailing environment.
By the way Peter, it’s a smart move to keep your busy Cairnsmore Street 49th store open for our smaller, fast shopping trips where I use cloth shopping bags to avoid using another plastic bag.
Thanks for your wise consideration of this vital, timely plastic shopping-bag ban.
I sure want to continue shopping at your handy 49th Parallel stores Peter but I, and my friends, will likely re-think that loyalty if such a plastic shopping-bag ban is not forthcoming.
I kindly look forward to your reply.
Peter W. Rusland,
Duncan
