You may have noticed a lack of plastic bags at some of your favourite stores, as many places in Canada phase out single-use plastics. In their place you may have been offered 'reusable' shopping bags, which are ... also often made of plastic. You may have used sustainable containers or cups—but unless you were also told how to properly dispose of them, it probably didn't make a difference.
Moving towards less and more sustainable packaging is necessary. The question is all in how we do it, and how we communicate that to people who are just trying to get through their shopping, or takeout, or coffee run. So what actually makes packaging sustainable, and how can we make these products actually work for consumers?