PASADENA, CA - APRIL 22: A sign reminds customers to make use of their reusable grocery bags at a Whole Foods Market natural and organic foods stores which is ending the use of disposable plastic grocery bags in its 270 stores in the US Canada and UK on Earth Day, April 22, 2008 in Pasadena California. The use of reusable bags has increased since a statewide plastic bag recycling law was enacted in July 2007 requiring grocers to provide in-store plastic bag recycling and to sell reusable shopping bags. Some communities have banned disposable single-use plastic shopping bags because they don?t break down in landfills, and clog waterways, endangering wildlife, and are a major source of litter. (Photo by David McNew/Getty Images) — David McNew / Getty Images

Some Bags Are More Equal Than Others

06.08.1211:57 AM ET

Brave New Plastic-Free World

WUHAN, CHINA - OCTOBER 29: (CHINA OUT) Used plastic bottles remain heaped up at a plastics recycling mill as the global financial crisis starts to bite in China's recycling industry on October 29, 2008 in Wuhan of Hubei Province, China. Many of China's recycling mills and farms are being forced to stop collecting recyclable scrap materials due to the nose-diving order prices as those of oil, metal and other commodities have plunged worldwide amid a worsening economic outlook. (Photo by China Photos/Getty Images) — China Photos / Getty Images

As the city of Toronto debates a total ban on plastic bags, a National Post contributor contemplates a bag-less future:

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