One Atlantic Superstore location is eliminating plastic bags from its store. While some applaud the effort for its environmental impact, others say Halifax isn’t ready.
By Jane Deacon <mr404961@dal.ca>
Posted: Feb. 1, 2008
On Feb. 21, Atlantic Superstore on Quinpool Road will no longer offer plastic bags at checkout. Photo credit: Jane Deacon
Forget about paper or plastic. By mid-February, one Halifax grocery store won’t be offering either.
The Atlantic Superstore on Quinpool Road will no longer offer plastic bags at checkouts after Feb. 21, making it the first bagless store in Atlantic Canada. Environmental groups applaud the effort, but some say Halifax residents aren’t ready for the change.
Instead of plastic bags, customers can bring their own bags or purchase reusable bags or plastic containers from the store.
Pete’s Frootique, an independent grocer with stores in Halifax and Bedford, stopped dispensing free bags in September 2007. Instead, the store sells reusable bags or charges customers five cents for every plastic bag it takes.
Jeff Supple, manager of Pete’s Bedford location, said the program had some initial challenges, such as customers forgetting to bring their own bags. Since then, feedback from customers has been overwhelmingly positive.
The two Nova Scotia stores have diverted 4.5 tonnes of plastic from landfills, says Supple. Despite positive reactions, there are no immediate plans to make his store plastic bag free.
“Right now, the public is growing in the right direction, but I don’t think we’re at the point right now where we can totally eliminate them.”
Loblaw Companies Ltd., which owns the Atlantic Superstore chain, became the first North American grocer without plastic bags when the Milton, Ont., Loblaw Superstore went bagless in April 2007.
The change was part of a continued effort to reduce one billion grocery bags from Canada's landfills within one year and to become a more responsible green retailer, said a news release from the company. Representatives from the Atlantic Superstore and Loblaw Company declined to comment on the initiative.
In the last year, bagless grocers have cropped up in British Columbia, Manitoba and across Ontario. Leaf Rapids, Man., became the first municipality in Canada to ban single-use shopping bags in March 2007.
Instead of plastic bags, the Quinpool Road store will offer reusable containers to carry groceries. Photo credit: Jane Deacon
According to Nova Scotia’s Environment Department, Nova Scotians use between 500 and 300 million grocery bags yearly.
Kari Riddell, co-ordinator for the Great Nova Scotia Pick-Me-Up, says plastic bags are littered on roadsides and beaches across the province.
The Great Nova Scotia Pick-Me-Up is a yearly program that clears litter at locations around the province. Last year, about 25,000 volunteers collected litter that filled 365 garbage bags and 684 recycling bags.
Close to 40 per cent of the total litter found were plastic bags, says Riddell, and it is always in the top three or four items found.
Sea turtles can eat them, thinking they're jellyfish, as the bags end up in the water, says Riddell. They can also ensnare animals such as birds or seals or be mistakenly eaten by animals that can’t digest them.
As a representative for the environmental organization Clean Nova Scotia, Riddell says she strongly supports the reduction of plastic bag use.
Robert Webb, a Halifax resident who shops at the Quinpool Road grocer about once a week, is happy the store is thinking about its environmental impact.
“It will certainly keep more plastic bags out of our landfills and might stop all the dirty plastic bags you see lying in gutters around the city,” says Webb.
Some say customers should be given the choice to use plastic bags. Photo credit: Jane Deacon
Jim Bauld, manager of solid waste resources for Halifax Regional Municipality, says reducing the use of grocery bags will help reduce litter and keep plastic out of landfills, but it also poses a potential problem for the province’s recycling program.
Since 1988, the province requires residents to put their magazines, newspapers and flyers in a plastic bag for recycling collection. If more stores go bagless, residents will no longer have a free plastic bag to put their paper into, says Bauld.
One shopper doesn’t think it’s fair that grocery stores are forcing customers to pay for bags.
“This store has always had free plastic bags and now they move that cost to the customer. Now, they’re making more money through the sale of re-usable containers. I think customers should at least be given the choice. I shouldn’t have to pay because I forgot to bring my own bag,” says Dalhousie student Rachel Powell.
Riddell says remembering to bring a reusable bag is not a difficult change and just requires education.
“People remember to bring their purse and the remember to bring their wallet. Eventually, they’re going to remember their own bags,” says Riddell.
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