Everything Yellowknife

Are you ready for $0.25 Plastic Bags

Here is something worth discussing, the now $0.25 it will cost for a plastic bag from a grocery store, which started January 15, 2010. We all remember when both Extra Foods in town raised the price of these plastic bags from nothing to $0.10, but now all three grocery stores will be charging $0.25 for a bag. That is 1/4 a dollar.

I can understand why this might be done. It is an environmental move to persuade people to switch to tote bags which can be reusable. I can tell you here in my house with have about 15 floating around and probably more in the van if we forget the ones in the house. Over the past year we have collected them from businesses around town giving them away as promotional items. The 2009 Yellowknife Trade Show had them everywhere as well as the YK75 celebrations. I actually like these bags, they are useful in may ways. They are a lot stronger than plastic bags which allows them to be used for many more tasks.

Although there are many uses for the tote bags, I started to think about some of the uses of the plastic bags. Sometimes I don’t think we realize but most of us actually did/do reuse them. The one task that I can think of that will need a new solution is the cleaning of cat litter. I have actually talked to several people who also reused these plastic bags for this task among other things around there house. Another scenario that comes to mind when thinking about the cost of the bags, is how much will we end up paying for bags when we think of something we need at the store while were on our way home. Or when we need to pick up a few items unexpectedly and don’t have our tote bags with us. If I had a quarter every time that happened… well I guess I would be buying a bag with it.

The other thing that was unclear to me up until writing this post was where the money is going. Now that all three grocery stores in town have adapted this new price change you may be thinking that the Territorial Government is behind it, If you did then you are right. I have been told that the Bag Fee goes into ENR’s Environmental Fund. This is the same as the non-refundable part of the beverage container fee. You can find out more information about the Single-Use Retail Bag Program in this PDF, starting on page 32. If you know what the Environmental Fund is for we’d love to hear about it in the comments.

Now over to you, Yellowknife, tote bags have been around for some time now and many use them. Will this transition effect you? If so how? Did you reuse the plastic bags, like many other people, how did you use them? Do you think this is a good thing to enforce over all?

We’d love to hear what others think about this change, leave your opinion in the comment section below.

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About the author

Kyle Thomas

Kyle grew up in Yellowknife and is a local entrepreneur, writer, baker, and Yellowknife Advocate who is addicted to learning as much as he can about the community and sharing it with anyone who'll listen. In 2009 he developed YkOnline.ca. A website all about living, working and thriving in Yellowknife for residents, newcomers, and visitors.

10 Comments

  • I was reusing my shopping bags for garbage and other uses, but they were coming in faster than I was using them. I still have a huge bag of them at home – I won’t be buying garbage bag for a year at least. I keep them in the car, so there’s no way of showing up to the store without them. But if somehow I still manage to have no bags and need to pick up something, I simply carry it home in my own hands. If I needed many things I wouldn’t have forgotten my bags anyway.

    Now if only there was a way to get out of paying the parking tax downtown, too…

  • I was reusing my shopping bags for garbage and other uses, but they were coming in faster than I was using them. I still have a huge bag of them at home – I won’t be buying garbage bag for a year at least. I keep them in the car, so there’s no way of showing up to the store without them. But if somehow I still manage to have no bags and need to pick up something, I simply carry it home in my own hands. If I needed many things I wouldn’t have forgotten my bags anyway.

    Now if only there was a way to get out of paying the parking tax downtown, too…

  • I’m in support of the plastic bag fee, but I need to remember to put the reusables back in the van once I’ve unloaded them (and then to take them into the store when I’m shopping.) It’ll take a while for this to become habit, but I’m sure it’ll come.

  • I’m in support of the plastic bag fee, but I need to remember to put the reusables back in the van once I’ve unloaded them (and then to take them into the store when I’m shopping.) It’ll take a while for this to become habit, but I’m sure it’ll come.

  • I spent a while looking for regulation and then got mad enough to ask my father in law where to look (he does tax policy). Personally I think if you are going to go this far, you should have the tax on bags at all stores. Toronto has a tax of 5 cents on single use bags but for all stores. My biggest beef is a lack of good reusable bags for carrying meats in town, and no where to buy the reusable ones for produce (mesh), and the stores not carrying enough of the small fold up in your pocket style bags. The best ones for meat are plastic and washable. I own around 60 bags most time consuming part is having enough to be able to wash them properly.

    I fear people are not going to be careful enough with cleaning them. I personally hate the black ones from coop and extra foods, they suck if you own pets for pet hair. they are also not great for washing.

    It makes people think, and nice to be a leader on this nationally.Although 25 cents is higher than most and it does provide a hardship for lower income families. Although I found some of the people using them first are the ones without cars, better to carry a load home when walking.

  • I spent a while looking for regulation and then got mad enough to ask my father in law where to look (he does tax policy). Personally I think if you are going to go this far, you should have the tax on bags at all stores. Toronto has a tax of 5 cents on single use bags but for all stores. My biggest beef is a lack of good reusable bags for carrying meats in town, and no where to buy the reusable ones for produce (mesh), and the stores not carrying enough of the small fold up in your pocket style bags. The best ones for meat are plastic and washable. I own around 60 bags most time consuming part is having enough to be able to wash them properly.

    I fear people are not going to be careful enough with cleaning them. I personally hate the black ones from coop and extra foods, they suck if you own pets for pet hair. they are also not great for washing.

    It makes people think, and nice to be a leader on this nationally.Although 25 cents is higher than most and it does provide a hardship for lower income families. Although I found some of the people using them first are the ones without cars, better to carry a load home when walking.

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