If your favourite grocery store is No Frills, Food Basics or Price Shopper, this won't really be anything new.

But if you shop at one of the other big chains in Toronto, like Metro or Loblaws, get ready for a change. And that change will be 5 cents.

City Council has passed a law making it mandatory for all stores in Toronto to charge you a nickel for every plastic bag you use.

The idea, which passed Tuesday night, is to get you to reduce the number of bags that inevitably wind up in a landfill and either use up the ones you have now or buy one of those reusable types that are earth friendly.

Mayor David Miller has complained that the carry-alls aren't biodegradable and can last for years and years at garbage dumps. "I'm very proud that Toronto is leading the way," he agrees. "It's the right thing to do."

Critics contend the city simply doesn't want to spend the money necessary to recycle the bags. And to make their gripes even worse, that 5 cents doesn't have to be spent on environmentally friendly causes, and can instead be a pure profit area for the retailer if they choose.

So far, the law only applies in Toronto, but with a possible new lucrative revenue stream, it's not known if chains will be able to resist the temptation to put it into effect everywhere.

That's not the only change. Council has also affirmed a previously announced plan to ban the sale of bottled water at City Civic Centres, and by February 2011, you won't be able to put any plastic take-out food containers that aren't compatible with the City's recycling program in your blue box.

The new plastic bag rules here will begin on June 1, 2009 and all bags in the city will have to be recyclable within a year of that date.