Plastic bag ban takes effect in Regina

As of Tuesday, shoppers will have to do an even better job of remembering reusable bags or bins when they head out — the City of Regina’s ban on plastic checkout bags takes effect.

The ban was approved by city council more than a year ago, but the start date was pushed back because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Council said the ban is meant to reduce plastic waste in the city. The ban applies only to bags given at checkout, not to produce bags or bulk food bags.

It’s going to be a big move for the Italian Star Deli.

“We use plastic bags every day. Every customer gets a plastic bag. We try to use paper a lot, which we’re going to have to use more paper now,” explained Gino Giambattista, co-owner of the shop.

When asked how many plastic bags the shop went through in a day, Giambattista seemed to have shocked himself.

“Oh geez. Man, thinking about it, it’s kind of scary. It might be good they’re banning it,” he exclaimed. “Probably hundreds; I would say hundreds a day. If it’s not already pre-packaged from us, it’s the bags that we give away. Yeah, I’d say at least a hundred.”

The shop has stocked up on paper and reusable bags for the shift, and Giambattista said he has been warning customers about it.

He said the ban could be a step in the right direction.

“It’s good that they’re doing something because there’s a lot of waste — paper bags recyclable, plastic bags. I’ve got a cupboard full of them (and) I can’t do nothing with them,” said Giambattista.

“It’s probably good that they’re getting rid of it, but we’ll see what happens.”

At least one shop in Regina was already living in the future: Groovy Mama in the Cathedral neighbourhood hasn’t ever given out plastic bags.

“We’ve definitely been using paper bags since Day 1,” said owner Cara Zimmerman.

The store is more focused on sustainable things and Canadian-made products, so she had been leaning away from plastic anyway.

Zimmerman said paper bags are quite a bit more expensive than plastic — as much as 10 times more expensive in some cases — and she said for a while the store was thinking of starting to charge for them.

“But then I just decided to start asking every single customer, ‘Would you like a paper bag?’ And nine times out of 10, people just go ‘No.’ They stack it on their baby, they throw it in their purse, they throw it in their diaper bag (or) they carry it out in their hands,” said Zimmerman.

Before making the change, Zimmerman said the store would use 15 to 30 bags a day, but now it could be only three in a day.

Zimmerman thinks the plastic bag ban is a good idea.

“It’s a good move as the human population to move away from single-use plastic; we should be doing it at all costs. It’s a small inconvenience to have a cloth bag in your car, rolled up in your purse (or) on your person. To help the environment, it’s a small thing we can all do,” explained Zimmerman.

Many people accumulated plastic bags from grocery stores. The stores in Regina are split almost evenly between those that will only offer the purchase of reusable bags and those that will also have paper bags available for 15 cents each.