It’s a growing environmental trend, but should Flin Flon ban single-use plastic shopping bags? At least one city councillor wants to examine the idea.
Coun. Karen MacKinnon last week asked that a bag ban be placed on council’s agenda for future consideration.
“I think it’s something we should look at,” she said, adding that many people have approached her to voice support for a ban.
MacKinnon said she had recently been at the municipal landfill and it was “so decorated with plastic bags it’s ridiculous.”
She said she has spoken to a couple of local storeowners who do not feel a
bag ban would be a hardship. She also pointed to bans in The Pas and Thompson.
The Pas and other communities with plastic bag bans still allow retailers to distribute paper bags, but the idea is to encourage consumers to use reusable cloth bags.
Coun. Colleen McKee suggested The Reminder use its weekly online survey to ask residents whether they support a plastic bag ban. The question went on this newspaper’s website on Tuesday and will remain online for a week.
Environmental advocates argue that single-use bag bans add to the life of landfills, reduce litter and encourage a culture of reusing. Opponents counter that consumers prefer the convenience of plastic bags and often reuse them, and that plastic bags have a smaller environmental footprint than paper bags and constitute only a tiny percentage of litter.
