MONTREAL -- A ban on single-use plastic bags is now in place in 18 municipalities in the Eastern Townships.

The municipalities in the Val-Saint-François region include:

  • Bonsecours
  • Cleveland
  • Kingsbury
  • Lawrenceville
  • Maricourt
  • Melbourne Canton
  • Racine
  • Richmond
  • Saint-Claude
  • Saint-Denis-de-Brompton
  • Sainte-Anne-de-la-Rochelle
  • Saint-François-Xavier-de-Brompton
  • Stoke
  • Ulverton
  • Valcourt Ville
  • Valcourt Canton
  • Val-Joli
  • Windsor

The regulations does allow for some exceptions: bags for bulk products, tire packaging, products already packaged by an industrial process, dry cleaning bags and bags containing advertising material distributed door-to-door.

About 30,000 people live in the region, which is near Sherbrooke.

Sherbrooke and Beaconsfield have also announced they will ban plastic bags starting in April.