The Book Store at Western and Books Plus are ringing out the days of the free plastic shopping bag.
Beginning Aug. 1, The Book Store will charge five cents each for the biodegradable plastic bags in current use.
Proceeds will cover a Stewardship Ontario surcharge that pays for blue box programs and an annual donation to ReForest London, a local environmental group that plants and cares for trees.
“Since we launched Save a Bag, Plant a Tree, our plastic bag reduction program, in December 2007, we have reduced our plastic bags by 25 per cent,” says Carolyn Young, Communications Manager, Western Retail Services.
“The time is right to make a bigger reduction by phasing out plastic bags and encouraging our customers to use reusable bags.”
Customers will still have several alternatives, adds Young.
“They can use one of our reusable bags, other retailers’ reusable bags or, the most popular choice for students, their backpacks.”
To prepare for the phase-out, The Book Store has given away more than 6,000 reusable shopping bags to students, faculty and staff since 2007.
At the end of August, an additional 5,000 reusable bags will be passed out to customers during back-to-school shopping.