LCBO expects to start using paper bags made in Ontario by summer 2026

After phasing out paper bags two years ago and reinstating them from a Quebec-based supplier, the LCBO is expected to have made in Ontario bags by summer 2026 following a demand from the Premier.

The provincial liquor retailer had shredded the use of paper bags in their stores in April 2023. About a year later, the province directed the LCBO to bring them back.

Premier Doug Ford said he wanted the paper bags reinstated to make shopping at the LCBO “as convenient an experience as possible for customers,” saying the decision to remove them “left people stuck openly carrying alcohol in public.”

However, when the company did so last year, they had sourced the bags from Quebec.

That prompted another request from Ford in October 2024, ordering the Crown corporation to find a supplier within Ontario.

• READ MORE: Province orders LCBO to use paper bags made in Ontario

At that time, he demanded the LCBO “initiate a new tender process as soon as possible” and said that process must only include Ontario suppliers.

“In the new year, LCBO will be issuing an RFP (request for proposal) to identify an Ontario-based vendor for in-store paper bags,” the retailer told CTV News Toronto in a statement Friday.

While paper bags have been available at LCBO stores in Ontario since they were sourced from Quebec last year, not every location made them available.

The corporation now says a new contract with an Ontario supplier is “anticipated to be in place by summer 2026.”

With files from CP24’s Codi Wilson