Walmart eliminating single-use plastic bags at all Canadian stores

Walmart is eliminating single-use plastic bags in all its Canadian stores, making it one of the country’s largest grocery retailers to make the move.
The change will prevent almost three-quarters-of-a-billion plastic bags from entering circulation each year, Walmart said in a news release.
The decision follows a pilot project that began in August at 10 stores across Canada, including the Walmart in Gloucester.
“By ending the use of single-use plastic shopping bags, we’re fundamentally changing the way Canadians shop with us for the better,” said Sam Wankowski, Walmart Canada’s chief operating officer. “This change will help to eliminate more than 10 million pounds of plastic from entering circulation each year.”
Walmart becomes one of the largest grocery chains in the country to get rid of single-use plastic bags. Sobeys eliminated them from all its 255 Canadian stores last year.
The changes apply to in-store purchases as well as online grocery pickup and delivery orders.
Walmart says the change will be fully rolled out by Earth Day 2022, which is April 22. It plans to launch an education campaign to help customers transition to a plastic-bag-free experience.
Customers will be encouraged to bring reuseable bags from home, but low-cost reusable bags will also be available in-store.
CTVNews.ca Top Stories
200 bodies found in Mariupol as war rages in Ukraine's east
Workers digging through rubble found 200 bodies in Mariupol, Ukrainian authorities said Tuesday, another grim discovery in the ruined port city that has seen some of the worst suffering of the 3-month-old war.

EXCLUSIVE | Supreme Court Justice Mahmud Jamal on his journey to Canada’s highest court
Justice Mahmud Jamal sat down with CTV National News' Omar Sachedina for an exclusive interview ahead of the one-year anniversary of his appointment to the Supreme Court of Canada. Jamal is the first person of colour to sit on the highest court in the country, bringing it closer to reflecting the diversity of Canada.
Death toll from Saturday's storm hits 10 across Ontario and Quebec
As the death toll related to the powerful storm that swept Ontario and Quebec on Saturday reached 10 on Monday, some of the hardest-hit communities were still working to take stock of the damage.
Trudeau faces chants, pounding drums as he walks through crowd at Kamloops memorial
The prime minister made comments following a memorial gathering in Kamloops to mark one year since the Tk'emlups te Secwepemc Nation announced the remains of up to 215 children were detected at a former school site.
Conservative party ends its investigation into complaint about a racist email
The Conservative Party of Canada says its ended its investigation into a racist email sent to leadership contender Patrick Brown's campaign team after the party member purportedly behind it resigned their membership.
Walk out at trade meeting when Russia spoke 'not one-off,' says trade minister
The United States and four other nations that walked out of an Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation group meeting in Bangkok over the weekend underlined their support Monday for host nation Thailand, saying their protest was aimed solely at Russia because of its invasion of Ukraine.
Canadian study finds link between air pollution and severity of COVID-19 infection
An extensive study of thousands of COVID-19 patients in Ontario hospitals found links between the severity of their infections and the levels of common air pollutants they experience.
After 3 months of war, life in Russia has profoundly changed
Three months after the Feb. 24 invasion of Ukraine, many ordinary Russians are reeling from those blows to their livelihoods and emotions. Moscow's vast shopping malls have turned into eerie expanses of shuttered storefronts once occupied by Western retailers.
China's bet on homegrown mRNA vaccines holds back nation
China is trying to navigate its biggest coronavirus outbreak without a tool it could have adopted many months ago, the kind of vaccines that have proven to offer the best protection against the worst outcomes from COVID-19.