Council delays day of reckoning for pesky shopping sacks

Iqaluit city councillor Simon Nattaq remembers his first trip south, to Toronto in 1965.

Among other things, he brought home a plastic bag, one of the first he had ever seen.

"I was born before there were any types of bags," says Nattaq.

He remembers it well because he still has the remains of that bag, kept outside his house. Over 43 years he has watched it slowly diminish as pieces have been torn off by children and ravens.

But in all that time, exposed to wind, rain, snow, sun, freezing and thawing, the plastic has never broken down.

That's why city council recently gave first reading to a bylaw to end use of plastic shopping bags in the city.

And last Monday, council's finance committee of the whole pushed the bylaw forward towards second reading after a public hearing on the issue, with one change and one request for clarification.

Managers from three of Iqaluit's major retail stores were the only members of the public to address the meeting. They all supported the bylaw in principle, but had concerns about the enforcement date.

After the public hearing, the finance committee agreed to delay implementation from the originally scheduled April 1, 2009, to Aug. 1.

Today plastic bags are ubiquitous. They carry groceries, Halloween candies and country food. They take out the trash. They even carry dog droppings for conscientious pet owners.

They add to the congestion in the city's landfill facility, already nearing capacity.

And when dropped by their owners – whether by accident or with casual disregard for the environment – they blow all over the community, including up into the hills or out onto the water.

"I see them all over the bay," says councillor Glenn Williams. "They're everywhere."

The finance committee agreed to Williams' request to include a technical definition of the type of bags council wants to ban, specifically to define the kind of plastic they are made of.

Calling the plastic grocery bags "single-use" is inaccurate, he said, as they do get re-used, to hold garbage, and to carry seal meat and other country food. Some people even bring them back to the store to carry groceries again.

April 1 is "the middle of our year for the sealift," explained Ian Hobbs, manager of D.J. Specialties, in requesting the date change.

He told the public hearing his company already has enough of the traditional plastic bags in stock to last until next July's sealift delivery. That's also when he'd like to bring in the reusable bags.

Hobbs said with the April deadline he would be left with thousands of single-use bags on hand, and would have to pay air-freight rates to bring in new bags.

Arctic Ventures general manager John Bens, while agreeing Aug. 1 would be a better date for implementation, says his store already has the jump on the bylaw.

Arctic Ventures brought in 5,000 reusable bags to give away to customers, and on Oct. 15 began charging 10 cents a bag for customers who still required the single-use plastic bags.

"We thought we should give the bags a value, even if it was only 10 cents," he said.

As a result, the store's use of plastic bags is down by 30 to 40 per cent.

"We were concerned about how it would affect business," said Bens, "but we decided to go for it, and we're really happy. I think the bylaw is a good one. If it helps the environment in Iqaluit, it has to be good."

Customer reaction hasn't been all positive, he admitted. While some said "it's about time," others were upset, and "some even said they would never shop here again."

Northmart retail manager Kieran O'Sullivan said their parent, Northwest Co., also backs council's initiative, and that he would support the Aug. 1 implementation date.

"In the past year, I've seen a big increase in the use of reusable bags," he says. "Some people even get upset if they forget to bring their bags."

The bylaw will be brought back to council with the proposed amendments for second reading.