MISSISSAUGA, ON, Dec. 7, 2021 /TechBomb/ – Walmart Canada announced today that it will eliminate single-use plastic shopping bags. This will prevent almost three-quarters-of-a billion plastic bags from entering circulation each year.
The changes apply to in-store purchases along with online grocery pickup and delivery orders. The phased approach will see all of Walmart’s more than 400 Canadian locations make the change by Earth Day 2022.
Walmart will become one of the largest grocery retailers in the country to make this change.
This change is the latest step in the company’s journey to becoming a regenerative company. Walmart said this will prevent enough plastic bags to circle the world nearly 10 times.
The national roll-out follows a 10-store pilot that began in August 2021. This successful pilot received overwhelmingly positive feedback from customers and associates and diverted nearly 6 million plastic bags.
Walmart will launch a comprehensive customer awareness and education campaign to facilitate in the transition to a plastic bag-free experience. Customers will be encouraged to bring reusable options from home to carry out their purchases. Low-cost, high-quality reusable options will also be available for purchase, if needed.
Walmart is committed to eliminating unnecessary single-use plastics and has already adopted a series of changes, including:
- Eliminating plastic wrap from organic banana bunches and single peppers, which removes more than 205,000 lbs. of plastic annually
- Increasing post-consumer recycled content in the packaging holding baked goods, avoiding the use of 925,000 lbs. of new plastics annually
- Removing 420,000 lbs. of expanded poly styrene from entering the supply chain annually by introducing new packaging for sausage trays
- Eliminating single-use plastic straws in-store and replacing them with paper alternatives. This is taking approximately 35 million single-use plastic straws out of circulation annually
“By ending the use of single-use plastic shopping bags, we’re fundamentally changing the way Canadians shop with us for the better. This change will help to eliminate more than 10 million pounds of plastic from entering circulation each year – that’s something our associates and customers can be proud of.” said Sam Wankowski, COO, Walmart Canada