With us, every day is International Plastic Bag Free Day
We have some great news to share! We’ve saved nearly 400,000 plastic checkout bags since we eliminated them in our stores last year! That’s a significant number of single-use plastic bags kept out of our landfills and oceans.
As we continue our environmental stewardship journey, last April, we launched our Reusable Bag Library! This program provides a simple yet effective way for anyone in our community to donate their extra reusable bags, so we can offer them to our Guests free of charge when they shop with us. Learn more about this initiative here.
Together, we’re caring for our communities and the planet we share, one bag at a time.
We are celebrating International Plastic Bag Free Day on July 3rd by permanently eliminating plastic checkout bags in our stores as of that date.
Environmental stewardship is important to everything we do at The Salvation Army Thrift Store in our mission to help build stronger, greener communities alongside our Guests and Donors, and this policy is another way that we are living that mission. We encourage you to bring your own reusable bags with you to shop, or you can choose to purchase one of our own Refresh, Recycle, Restyle reusable eco bags for $1.99.
In Canada, up to 15 billion plastic bags are used every year. Eliminating single-use plastics like these are an important step towards a circular economy – something that we are proud to play an important role in as one of Canada’s largest textile recyclers.
“Although the federal government’s announced national ban on single-use plastic items, including plastic bags, is not yet in effect, we are proud to be taking initiative and leading the way in our role as environmental stewards,” says Ted Troughton, Managing Director of The Salvation Army Thrift Store. “We look forward to continue making thrifting even greener alongside our guests and donors.
For more information on our commitment to environmental sustainability and how you are making a difference by shopping and donating with us, please visit www.thriftstore.ca/impactreport