'Overwhelming' response on plastic bag ban a good thing, says MNL

Newfoundland and Labrador will ban retail plastic bags, after receiving an overwhelming response in favour of a ban in an online government survey.

But it's expected to take six months to a year to implement the ban.

Government said people should use that time to get used to bringing reusable bags with them, and retailers will have time to look at alternatives.

Some businesses, including the Newfoundland and Labrador Liquor Corporation, have alreadytaken the initiative to find alternative packaging possibilities, implementing their own ban on single-use plastics.

Anumber of communities including all of Nunatsiavut in northern Labrador have already taken it on themselves to enact local bans.

During a public consultation process, the province launched an online survey from March 5 to 27.

Those responses were 87 per cent in favour of a ban. Of the nearly 3,000 people who responded, 75 per cent they were already bringing reusable bags with them while shopping.

According to those results, if there wasn't a provincial ban on bags, 66 per cent of respondents would agree with a fee on plastic bags.

'We're overjoyed'

The idea of a provincewide ban on the bags was first floated in 2015 by Municipalities Newfoundland and Labrador, andsince then the government has been mulling over whetherto implement it and the best way to do it.

"Timing means really nothing to us, as long as the ban is gonna be put in place," said MNLpresident Tony Keats."That's overwhelming, and we knew that going into the talks about getting rid of the plastic bags, so we're really overjoyed."

Keats said the response in favour of a ban is something MNL has been hearing for a long time.

"We don't really need the bag. We've been proving that, our residents have been proving that,"Keats told CBC's St. John's Morning Show.

Keats said most of the people who do use plastic bags will find ways to repurpose them, but that's something that he said can be curbed over time.

"We've been used to that plastic bag for a long time now and we've been trying to find ways to get around that, and I think that's just gonna be a quick thing for people once they get used to not using that bag."

There will likely be exceptionsto the rule, Keats said; for example, plastic bags used to discard animal waste.

But a ban will mean big changes across the province.

"We believe that we can be a leader when it comes to this environmental issue," Keats said."P.E.I. has already come out [witha ban]. So if we're not gonna be the first, we're gonna be the second in Canada to do so."

In a media release, government said it will work with the Multi-Materials Stewardship Boardto establish a producer-responsibility program "for the management of packaging and printed paper as a long-term strategy."

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