Prince Albert outlaws plastic bags

By Derek Craddock

Plastic checkout bags are a thing of the past in Prince Albert.

The city’s ban on the plastic bags too effect on Monday, nearly two years after the bylaw was originally passed by council.

The bylaw to ban the bags was passed by council in January 2020 with fines and enforcement to start in August 2020.

However, the ban was put on hold in June 2020 as the province was under a state of emergency because of the pandemic.

This past July, council voted to reinstate the ban to start in October.

“We have a throw-away culture,” said Mayor Greg Dionne. “This ban is a first step in what needs to be a rethinking of what we are producing and how much we are sending to the landfill. I know many people have found a second use for some of these plastic bags, but the truth is that many are ending up in our landfill and littered throughout our community.”

Under the new rules, grocery stores and other retailers can no longer provide plastic bags at checkouts. Exceptions to this bylaw include bags for items bought in bulk or in the produce section.

Many stores have already made the move to removing plastic bags from their checkouts. The Safeway in South Hill moved to paper bags several weeks ago while the Valu Lots ran out of plastic bags recently and immediately moved to the reusable ones.

Monique Zwack is with the Lake Country Co-op in Prince Albert explains how her staff have been preparing for the move.

“We’ve done some staff education and we’ve done some customer advertising with some posters. We have stocked up on our reusable bags and boxes and totes.”

Zwack added this is a city bylaw and not a decision made by any company or store. She said there will likely be some roadblocks at the start.

“There will definitely be some frustration and some challenges but I think people will learn quickly and adjust to it and get used to that.”

In a statement sent to paNOW, Save on Foods said their teams have done an amazing job of handling the transition and will be placing signs in the store to inform customers of the new rule.

“It’s all about keeping people informed and letting them know what their options are,” the statement reads. “Although every change comes with its challenges, we are optimistic that our customers share our commitment to the environment.”

The company said the Prince Albert store will move all their plastic bags to stores in Saskatoon to ensure existing stock doesn’t go to waste.

Businesses that continue to provide plastic bags to customers could face hundreds of dollars in fines.

An individual employee could be fined $100 for a first offence while corporations can face fines between $500 and $10,000.