Sobeys Announces Plan to Eliminate Plastic Bags by 2020

A shopper leaves a grocery store carrying his groceries in plastic bags in Brossard, Que., on Aug. 30, 2016. Shoppers at Sobeys Inc. grocery stores will soon need to bring their own bags to pack their purchases or lug them home in paper bags as the chain moves to phase out plastic bags by February 2020. Paul Chiasson/The Canadian Press

Sobeys Inc., Canada’s second largest food retailer, revealed its plan to get rid of plastic grocery bags at all of its 225 locations in the country today—a move that will take an estimated 225 million plastic bags out of circulation.

The change will begin taking effect by the end of January 2020. Sobeys said in a news release posted on their website that they will start by pulling the bags from Sobeys stores, then gradually working to phase them out completely throughout all of their banners, including the brands FreshCo, Safeway, Thrifty Foods, Price Chopper, and Foodland.