Watch above: The Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities has passed a resolution to ban plastic bags in the province. Jessica Kent finds out what the next step will be to make it a reality.
SASKATOON – Ever since the Saskatchewan Association of Rural Municipalities (SARM) proposed the idea of banning plastic grocery bags, the debate has been strong.
SARM passed a resolution urging the province to ban the sale and use of plastic bags for environmental reasons.
“Plastic bags don’t biodegrade and it takes about 1,000 years for them to break down, and then they break down into very small pieces,” said Peter Prebble, director of environmental policy with the Saskatchewan Environmental Society.
Prebble added those pieces can end up in the stomachs of wildlife, including aquatic.
“A lot of these bags end up in our landfills but they don’t stay in our landfills, they blow around and move into our waterways.”
Many areas of the ocean are heavily contaminated with plastic.
On average, Canadians use nine-billion plastic bags a year, but an increasing number are being recycled now that Saskatoon has a recycling program.
Provincial Environment Minister Scott Moe said he is aware of SARM’s initiative but won’t discuss it until the group comes forward.
“The discussions we’ve had about plastic bags, quite frankly, have been around reusing and recycling those bags, the recycling being through the multi-material recycling program,” said Moe.
That program will start in the New Year and is expected to remove 40 per cent of recyclable product from the landfill, like bags, water bottles and paper and plastic cartons.
Plastic bags consume about one per cent of the landfill but would be more if the wind didn’t carry them away so easily, according to Prebble.
The plastic bags aren’t just a concern for wildlife but for our natural resources as well.
“They are a petroleum product so if we’re serious about reducing our greenhouse gas emissions and reducing our use of petroleum, phasing out plastic bags is a good way to do it,” Prebble added.
Saskatchewan wouldn’t be the first in the Prairies to rid grocery stores of their bags. Leaf Rapids, Man. banned them in 2007, the first municipality in North America.
San Francisco, Seattle and Los Angeles followed suit shortly after.
SARM is planning on take their resolution to the Saskatchewan government in two to three weeks.
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