The city of Toronto’s proposed ban on plastic bag that was supposed to come into effect in January was put aside in November due to a number of legal issues.

Toronto would have been the first major Canadian city to ban plastic bags. This has been very effective around the world including a number of large American cities such as Los Angeles, Seattle and Portland.

Other places that have done this successfully include Rwanda, Bangladesh and Mexico City.

So what’s the deal Canada?

Apparently the Canadian Plastic Bags Association, cause yes that’s a thing, along with the Ontario Convenience Stores Association both decided to sue the city. Their reasoning was that the ban was “unlawlful” and passed in “bad faith”.

Yes plastic bags can now be recycled, however they very rarely are. Canadians use a total of 2.86 billion bags annually, amounting to around 200 per person.

There are also many issues to overcome with implementing a plastic bag ban such as the costs to retailers and consumers. Another big issue is finding alternatives for uses such as picking up after your dog or bringing your fish home from the store.

Clearly it has worked in the past and I think that many major Canadian cities should be looking to nearby cities in the US to see what factors are needed to make this succeed.

Unlike US cities, Metropolitan Vancouver municipalities have no jurisdiction to outright ban plastic bag. However, If Vancouver plans on being the greenest city by 2020 a ban on plastic bags has got to be in the works somewhere with the provincial government’s support. So they should definitely start talking to the Canadian Plastic Bags Association so they can avoid legal action and hurting anyone’s feelings.