Plastics association representative says keep ‘em

Plastic bags, Grant Cameron’s in your corner.

Cameron, executive director of the Alberta Plastics Recycling Association, made a presentation before council at the Oct. 21 meeting to make a case against the banning of bags, an action that’s been discussed in Jasper. 

“I’m here to talk about bags because of an interest in what the town might do with what’s perceived as a problem,” Cameron said. 

Environmental stewardship coordinator Janet Cooper initiated a series of meetings to seek public opinion regarding plastic bags in town and what should be done to reduce their use. Since then, Cooper has also polled the public in a survey which offered three suggestions: use education and marketing, implement a mandatory bag fee, or ban plastic bags across the board. 

But people who support such ideas are uninformed, according to Cameron. “A certain part of the population lacks the full knowledge of the situation,” he said. “They have issues with plastic until they understand what can be done.”

Banning plastic bags is too drastic a move, especially when the number used in the province is already down due to the availability of reusable bags, he said. And the towns that ban bags run into problems. 

“There are constant references in the press to control measures, they say, ‘Let’s ban the bag’,” Cameron said. “Ninety-six municipalities (in Canada) in the last year have looked at it and only two have done it. Neither has proven very successful.” 

In Leaf Rapids, Manitoba, the first Canadian municipality to ban plastic bags, Cameron said shoppers drive out of town to shop at grocery stores that offer bags. In a phone interview Wednesday, Martin Van Osch, municipal administrator for the town of Leaf Rapids, disagreed. Bags from the local grocery stores are neither winding up in the town’s landfill, nor has business at the stores declined, he said.

Plastic bags given out in stores aren’t a problem because they are later used to hold garbage, Cameron said. “I suspect there’s a plastic bag in the garbage right here in the room we’re in,” he said, adding when shopping bags are banned, people purchase alternatives. “You end up using more plastic if you get rid of the bag.”

Bag recycling is the way to go for Jasper, he said, as the municipality would “probably break even” if it decided to recycle film plastic. As well, he suggested encouraging reusable bags as a marketing initiative. “It strikes me you could find two or three cooperative agents who would list their names on the bag, it would say Jasper, beautiful by nature, and you could sell them at the kiosk on the way in,” Cameron said.

It may seem like he’s advocating for the use of plastic bags, but Cameron said he would really like to see a reduction in the number “deployed.” 

“Everybody’s goal here is the same,” Cameron said. “We’re thought of as sales people and nothing could be further from the truth. We want to see less at the consumer level.” 

Cooper, who attended the meeting, took advantage of the opportunity to challenge Cameron. “Everyone recognizes we’re not going to get rid of plastic, but we want to drastically reduce it,” she said. “The easiest way to reduce waste is to have less in the first place.”