IGAs in Montreal will stop giving out plastic bags after this weekend

As of September 3, plastic bags in IGA supermarkets across Montreal will be a thing of the past.

As part of a nation-wide movement, plastic bags in all grocery stores owned by Sobeys Inc. will be phased out by February 2020.

Montreal will become the first location to complete Sobeys’ plastic bag elimination.

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Starting on September 3, customers will be offered paper bags or can use their own reusable bags.

Montreal IGAs will continue to offer smaller transparent plastic bags for fruits, vegetables, and meats but will introduce a new line of reusable mesh bags as an alternative.

IGA/Twitter

In June, Sobeys Inc. announced it’s long-term plan for eliminating 225 million plastic grocery bags from circulation across 255 of the company’s locations in Canada.

Along with the IGA franchise, Sobeys will be phasing out bags under all its other banners including Safeway, FreshCo, and Foodland across the country by the 2020 deadline.

“So many of our customers and our employees have told us loud and clear — they want us to use less plastic — and we agree with them,” said Michael Medline, president and CEO of Empire (Sobeys’ parent company) in a release, in June. “This is a first step, and we plan to make meaningful progress every year to take plastic out of our stores and our products. We decided to act now instead of taking years to study and only make long-term commitments.”

Le 3 septembre prochain, nous retirerons les sacs de plastique aux caisses. 🌎

Nous commencerons par les IGA de l’île de Montréal le 3 septembre et nous déploierons ensuite cette solution à l’ensemble de nos magasins au Québec en 2020. 🌱 pic.twitter.com/hGUbUa9j4i

— IGA (@IGAQC) July 31, 2019

In an effort to encourage more environmentally friendly shopping, IGA stores on the island of Montreal will offer designated parking spots for customers who bring reusable bags as well as promotional offers on reusable bags and boxes to encourage use.