CPIA responds to negative CBC documentary

The Canadian Plastics Industry Association (CPIA) and the Environment and Plastics Industry Council (EPIC) are responding to a documentary that aired on CBC Television last week about plastic shopping bags.

According to CPIA vice president of environment and health Cathy Cirko, the program took a very “biased and negative” look at bags in international markets.

The documentary, entitled The Battle of the Bag, discussed positions on bans in jurisdictions such as Kenya and San Francisco.

“The premise of the documentary is that bags were a good idea at the time they were introduced, but now there are just too many of them,” said Cirko in a note to CPIA members. “The piece is notable for its lack of attention to recycling, a retailer perspective, and little Canadian content.”

The documentary first aired on CBC TV on Thursday, January 31. An online version is still available at the documentary’s CBC page.

“CPIA has a Bag Task Group which is working with EPIC and PR POST to deal with the CBC as there were a number of inaccuracies in the documentary,” noted Cirko. “We also plan to implement an aggressive outreach strategy to get more positive profile on bags nationally.”

Cirko said PR POST has developed key messaging around bags, and CPIA will be providing members with this information later in the week. She also encouraged members to bring media calls to the attention of Roberta Jones at the CPIA.