Edmonton grocery store owner reignites debate over plastic bag ban

An Edmontongrocery store ownerwants to bring the battle to ban plastic bags back to city hall.

More than 1,100 people have signed Earth's General StoreownerMichael Kalmanovitch's petition asking Edmonton Mayor Don Iveson and city council to reconsider their stance on single-use plastic bags.

"There's no such thing as a free plastic bag," Kalmanovitch told CBCNews. "It's a cost to the environment, its a cost to a business ... and those are hidden costs."

• Plastics industry says people, not plastic bags, are the problem
• Montreal has officially banned single-use plastic bags but heavy-duty bags are OK

At his own business, Kalmanovitch does not providesingle-use plastic bags. Instead, he offers reusable plastic bags, boxes and fabric totes for his customers to use.

Kalmanovitch was first moved to action when Bangladesh banned single-use bags in 2002because they were cloggingthe country's drainage systems.

The World Economic Forum predicted in2016that the world's oceans would contain more plastics than fish by 2050.

Kalmanovitch said he will be meeting with Coun.Ben Henderson later this month to discuss bringing his petitiontocity council.

Recent bans reignite debate in Edmonton

Kalmanovitchcredits the success of his current petition tothebans recently put in place in other municipalities across the country.

On Jan. 1, Montreal outlawed lightweight plastic shopping bags less than 0.05 millimetresthick.The municipality also passed a bylaw that would penalize retailers that continue to hand out the thin bags after June 5.

Smaller municipalities have also banned the bag across the country, including Thompson, Man., Leaf Rapids, Man.,Huntingdon, Que. and Fort McMurray.

Victoria, B.C. isset to put a ban in place by July 1.

• Fort McMurray bans single-use bags
• #BanTheBag: Mayors ask people to write MHAs about banning plastic bags

Montreal's new bylaw will hopefully revitalize interest in an Edmonton ban, Kalmanovitch said.

"This is something that will not come from the general public;it will come from legislators or councillors saying this is smart, this is good for the environment."

In 2013, there were over581 million plastic bags distributed in Alberta,a significant decrease from the 900 million the province counted in 2008.

City researchedban in 2008

Council thoroughly researched a potential bag ban in 2008, said Kristin Wagner, spokesperson for the City of Edmonton.

Council decidedin a later meeting that banning single-use bags in the city would be too "onerous" for consumers and merchants and "too difficult" to regulate, she wrote in a statement to CBC News.

Instead, the city put in place measures to limit the waste created by single-use bags, including an education campaign to teach residents the differencebetween garbage and recycling.

However, Coun. Hendersonsaid the city should be reopening the debate.

"They're remarkably wasteful," he said. "It feels like we haven't made as much progress as I think we would want to have had."

• Edmonton to look at banning, taxing plastic bags
• Alberta to cut plastic bag use by half

Some retailers, like London Drugs,charge customers a flat price for each single-use bag. Henderson said this system might be more effective for the city instead of a full ban.

Plastic is city's most common litter

Plastic bags recycledinblue bins are driven straight to the city's material recovery facility where they are transformed into bales of compact film plastic andre-sold to various buyers.

The facility recycles 87tonnesof film plastic every year, said Michael Robinson, contract manager for the facility.

"The biggest impact, when we talk about plastic bag bans, is the environmental impact from the material that's either lost or littered," he said.

Plastic continues to be the city's most common type of litter. Plastic accounted for 10.7 per cent of the city's large litter in 2017, down from 18.5 per cent in 2016, according to a 2017 city report.

Wagner said the city continues to educate Edmontoniansabout waste disposal. When it comes to plastic bags, she said stuffingone plastic bag full of others and tieingit shut will make the sorting process easier for workers at the recovery facility.

anna.desmarais@cbc.ca

@anna_desmarais