Proposed plastic bag ban 'a great day for Iqaluit': activist

Eco-minded residents in Iqaluit are cheering city council for drafting a bylaw that, if approved, would make plastic shopping bags a floating memory by next spring.

At a meeting Tuesday night, councillors introduced the measure, which would rid the Nunavut capital of single-use plastic bags effective April 1, reducing the number of bags that litter the streets and end up in the local landfill.

"It's a good day, a great day for Iqaluit," Shirley Allder, an environmental activist in the municipality, told CBC News on Wednesday, while walking along a stream cluttered with litter.

"I'm seeing … lots of plastic bags and a few plastic bottles, like pop bottles, all in the stream here," she observed. "It's quite a sight, really."

Under the proposed bylaw, local retailers would not be allowed to give customers single-use plastic bags for regular purchases and could instead offer paper or reusable bags.

However, plastic bags could still be used to package fish, meat and unwrapped produce.

Retailers would be fined $100 for violations of the bag ban.

The bylaw passed first reading at Tuesday night's meeting, then was discussed in committee. It will have to pass third reading before it can take effect.

"We're looking at a ban of single-use plastic bags, which is the non-biodegradable, non-compostable" type, Iqaluit economic development officer Mike Bozzer said.

"Some plastic bags will still be allowed, the ones that compost in between one and four years, whereas the regular ones take up to 400 [years] in these climates."

Campaigned since 2003

Allder said she and other concerned residents have been pushing for a plastic bag ban since 2003. Bozzer said the city has received a lot of correspondence from citizens asking for the ban.

At least one retailer is on side with the city's plan: the North West Company, which owns the NorthMart general store, said a plastic bag ban fits with the company's environmental agenda.

But a ban on plastic shopping bags will cost money, executive vice-president Michael McMullen said.

"The cost of shipping plastic is about a tenth of the cost of shipping paper," he said. "So this will be absolutely anything but a cost-saving measure."

McMullen said the company will donate reusable bags, as well as charge a small fee for paper bags.

Iqaluit is not the only northern Canadian city that's mulling over ways to reduce the waste created by single-use plastic bags.

City councillors in Whitehorse are looking at a proposal to charge an environmental fee on each plastic bag handed out in the city.