Dec 3 - Bag Ban in Toronto On Hold...For Now

The City of Toronto is on a plastic bag roller-coaster ride.

This past summer, a plastic bag charge was removed after much urging from Mayor Rob Ford. The five cent charge on plastic shopping bags had been in place since 2009, passed under then Mayor David Miller. Council voted at the meeting to remove the charge, which went into effect July 1, 2012.

However, at the same meeting a motion to ban plastic bags outright was introduced--and passed, to the shock and dismay of Mayor Ford and the plastic bag industry.

Lawsuits were threatened and a few were eventually filed, claiming that the council acted too quickly. Last Tuesday, the councillors reportedly voted 38 to 7 to remove the implementation and enforcement of the ban which had been set to take place this January.

But the issue is far from over. According to the National Post, Councillor David Shriner sees the review of a council-ordered bag study, to be released in June of 2013, as another opportunity to revisit the issue.

And the Canadian Plastic Bag Association, which has not said whether or not its lawsuit would be dropped, reportedly said bag charges are "better" than bag bans.