Big changes came to Sobeys on Friday and most shoppers have been heading to the stores with their reusable shopping bags.

Sobeys stores has phased out plastic shopping bags in their 225 stores in Canada.

A spokesperson for Sobeys, Violet McCleod, says 225-million plastic bags were used every year. She says plastic packaging is an industry-wide grocery retail challenge so this first step is not the perfect solution but it is progress.

MacCleod explains that at their stores in Quebec—which are under the IGA brand name—customers bring in their own reusable containers for hot food during lunch or dry foods in bulk.

She says sometimes the plastic is necessary for cleanliness because they need to adhere to food standards. They will still have the small light plastic bags to separate things like fish and meat from other grocery items.

Sobeys will offer paper bags at 10 cents each and they also have a variety of reusable options available for purchase.