Quote:
Originally Posted by calgarygeologist
If this was such a smart idea and good decision then businesses, stores and restaurants would have implemented it already across all their locations and would be happy to make the extra revenue while promoting the reduction in bags in their annual ESG reports.
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Socially responsible behaviour is rarely 'good for business' for a number of reasons (I'd suggest a big reason is that the customers who are most conscious of these things tend to consume less).
Legislation is a good way to level the playing field with regulated standards. A lot of businesses would save a lot of money by dumping their waste in a field two blocks away or in a river or whatever. They could also save money by paying poverty wages...perhaps facilitating that even further by importing foregin workers and housing them in abhorrent conditions.
What do you mean my new building has to be designed to meet accessibility standards?
Those people will never spend enough money to offset those costs!
I can't sell beer to minors?!?! Teenagers seem really eager to buy it though!
Yet we've legislated against each of these activities along the way. Single use items may feel a bit different than these extreme examples, but they are actually on the same conceptual plane. Perhaps some of the nit-picky elements of food-safety standards or OSHA would be more apt.
Which isn't to say the bylaw is perfect by any means...but the concept is sound.