Paper bags will return to LCBO stores in the coming weeks [Video]

Paper bags will return to LCBO stores in “the coming weeks,” just over a year after it first phased them out to reduce its carbon footprint, the government-run retailer says.

The LCBO stopped offering paper bags to customers in September 2023, a move it said would help its environmental ambitions and remove 135 million bags from annual circulation. Months later, however, Ontario Premier Doug Ford said he thought the plan was impractical and costly. He ordered the alcohol store to cancel it.

“At a time when many Ontario families are already struggling to make ends meet, every additional expense counts,” Ford said in a letter dated April 7, 2024, to LCBO’s president and CEO. “That includes charging customers for reusable bags instead of the free paper bags that the LCBO previously offered.”

The LCBO responded by starting a search for a new bag supplier, having already cancelled its contract with the previous maker. The LCBO told …