After finding itself confronted with two lawsuits over its June decision to enact a complete ban on plastic shopping bags effective 1 January 2013 (see Plasteurope.com of 29.08.2012), Toronto City Council on 28 November held a closed-door session and voted 38-7 in favour of scrapping the ban altogether. The decision came in the wake of a lawsuit filed on 15 November by the Ontario Convenience Stores Association (OCSA, Oakville, Ontario / Canada; www.conveniencestores.ca), which was followed by similar legal action filed by the Canada Plastic Bag Association (CPBA) on 19 November.

Commenting on the council’s decision, OCSA chief executive Dave Bryans said, “This is a good day for small businesses in Toronto and we commend Toronto City Council for their thoughtful reconsideration of this by-law and the impact it would have had on convenience stores.” The move was also welcomed by CPBA’s Joe Hruska, who told local media the decision would “save thousands of jobs”.

The decision to rescind the ban means Toronto city no longer has any official restrictions on plastic bags at all. At its June meeting, city council had scrapped the earlier 5-cent bag fee, which was first imposed in 2009. The measure went into effect on 1 July. However, during its 28 November meeting, the council also voted 31-14 to commission a report on how to reduce bag use, which is due to be presented in June 2013.