Quebecers may face 20-cent tax on plastic bags

Quebec shoppers may soon be faced with a 20-cent tax for using plastic bags instead of reusable ones when they're taking home their groceries.

Montreal environmental activist Jacques Lalonde recommended the tax to the provincial environment minister, Line Beauchamp, in a recent report he drafted for her department.

On Friday, he said her staff told him they are seriously considering the idea.

Lalonde said the idea is based on a similar tax imposed in Ireland in 2002, which resulted in a 90 per cent drop in plastic-bag use.

He estimates the tax could bring in about $30 million a year to the Environment Ministry. But, he said, that's not what the tax is for. Its purpose is to reduce the number of plastic bags that go to landfill sites.

"Personally, I would rather that we don't get that money, that we're not actually charging any people, because that would mean that nobody's using plastic bags anymore."

Lalonde said Quebecers use about 1.5 billion plastic bags a year, and most of them end up in landfill.

In addition to the tax, Lalonde wants the government to ban non-biodegradable plastic bags entirely. He advocates using bags made from corn or potato starch.

When they end up in landfill, "They're gone within 12 weeks instead of 40 years," he said.

To help the government make up its mind on the tax, Lalonde is collecting letters of support for his recommendations from municipalities and private citizens.