Our customers and teammates have told us they want to use less plastic, and we agree with them. Last week, ​​​​​​we proudly announced our commitment to removing plastic grocery bags from all Sobeys banner stores by January 31, 2020. This change will take 225 million plastic grocery bags out of circulation at our 255 Sobeys locations across Canada each year and remove 800 million plastic bags from circulation when we remove them from all banners, including Safeway.

While we work together to will eliminate plastic grocery bags and introduce paper bags, our ultimate goal is to shift shopping patterns to focus on reusable shopping bags. This is a significant step in our company’s journey to eliminate unnecessary plastic from our stores and we’re committed to making meaningful progress, where possible.

​​While we phase out plastic grocery bags at our banners, we’ll continue to launch innovative and unique programs to reduce plastics in other areas of the store and encourage customers to choose reusable bags.

This August, in the produce aisle, Sobeys will introduce a line of reusable mesh produce bags, made from recycled water bottles, to provide customers with an alternative for their fresh produce. These reusable bags were launched at our IGA stores in Quebec in June and received highly positive feedback from customers.

In July, we launched a pilot to phase out unnecessary plastic at nine of our Sobeys Urban Fresh stores in Toronto, where customers are provided recyclable paper bags at our plastic-free tomato bars to carry their snacking tomatoes.

We will continue to work with our supplier and industry partners to eliminate plastics from our system, where possible, while ensuring we balance important factors like food waste and food safety when assessing the need for plastic packaging in grocery retail. Stay tuned for more exciting updates as we continue our sustainability commitment.

Don’t forget to pick up your reusable Safeway bag the next time you’re in store!

Click here​ to read the full Press Release.