Retail council wants changes to P.E.I.'s proposed plastic-bag ban

The Retail Council of Canada (RCC) is hopeful the P.E.I. government will consult with it before the provincepasses Bill 114, the Plastic Bag Reduction Act,askingfor the ban of single-use plastic bags.

JimCormier, the retail council's director in Atlantic Canada, says the private member's billintroduced by Liberal MLA Allen Roach is flawedand amendments should be made before it ispassed.

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The new act would ban single-use grocery bagsand require people pay for a paper bag, if needed.

"He did not consult with us at all," Cormier said of Roach.

The council has sent a letter to every member of P.E.I.'s legislature flagging its concerns about the bill.

The RCC hasdeveloped preferred options to deal with the reduction of single-use plastic bags and presented them to municipal and provincial governments that were interested, Cormier said.

The councilreceived positive feedback and in some cases began working with governments to develop a plan to reduce the use of theplastic bags while not hurting retailers.

Butthe P.E.I.bill would not be fair to retailers, Cormiersaid.

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Concerns over paper bags, too

The council sent a list of its preferredapproaches,including mandating businesses to develop their own plans to reduce the use of plastic bags including charging a fee, Cormier said.

Cormier most objects to the idea ofreplacing plastic bags with paper.

"What we found, and what a lot of studies delving into this now are finding is yes, there are some concerns with single-use plastic bags, we understand that. But there's also a lot of concerns with the use of paper bags."

Producing paper bags, with the water and chemicals involved, is harder on the environment than the process to createplastic bags, Cormier said.

"We do not have an opinion one way or the other on these products. We are simply saying we need to be at the table when these decisions are being made," Cormier said.

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