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Deputy Mayor Tony Mancini, who has long championed the idea of a ban, said if council does decide to go ahead with it, it would be phased in over time with a lot of consultation with business and giving consumers time to prepare for it.

“Everybody has plastic bags in their house,” Mancini said in a recent interview. “You can continue to use those. All we’re saying is no longer will you get a plastic bag when you go to a grocery store, as an example.”

The most recent meeting of the city’s environment and sustainability committee, held on Dec. 6, saw the members vote to ask staff to collaborate with the province’s 10 largest municipalities and prepare a draft bylaw for Halifax council to consider by December of next year.

There are already a number of businesses that either do not offer plastic bags at all, like the Quinpool Road Atlantic Superstore grocery outlet — although other Superstore locations do offer bags — or others that charge a nominal fee for bags, like Dollarama, Bulk Barn and more.

Sobeys has introduced new bags that are made with 30 per cent less plastic and is putting more emphasis on reusable bags, Cynthia Thompson, vice-president of communications and corporate affairs at Sobeys Inc., wrote in an email.

They also collect used plastic bags of any brand in recycling bins that are available at all of their stores to keep them out of landfills, she said.

“When you go to Costco, you know you’re not getting a bag, right?” Mancini said. “So people adapt and they survive and people continue to go to Costco. So we need to get to a point where it’s mandatory that there’s no more bags.”

What would pet owners who commonly use bags to retrieve and dispose of their (sometimes not so) little furballs’ doo-doo do? Mancini said it’s yet to be determined.

“I’m a pet owner,” Mancini said. “I have a dog — and a big dog, a hundred-pound dog — and he produces a lot. And so we just have to come up with alternatives on how to do that. How do you handle it?”

He also hears from a lot of seniors who put their newspapers to the curb in a grocery bag for recycling.

“I had someone tell me ... ‘look, I get it, the plastic bags, the environment, I get it, do whatever you want but whatever you do, don’t inconvenience me.’ So is it more important that I don’t inconvenience some people versus the environment?

“We have to address that stuff, absolutely, and that’s part of what we asked staff to come up with in that strategy, what’s the alternative to it. I think most people are ready for it.”

Mancini, who is originally from Cape Breton, has been on-board for years when many people were not so ready. He is now seeing more buy-in from consumers and some businesses.

“I believe now residents of HRM are very accepting of a ban,” Mancini said. “The problem is the word ‘ban’ is always tough. No one likes to be told what you can and can’t do but the environment is such an important piece of the municipality and for our residents and I really think that the time is right.”

He said young people get it.

“I constantly speak to university students and high school students and even elementary students that we bring up to talk about the environment. They look at us and say ‘what’s taking you so long? This is common sense. We don’t need it.’ It’s a convenience thing.”

He said there was some interest in a ban from the provincial government in the past but when Margaret Miller took over the post of environment minister from Iain Rankin, that went by the wayside.

“She chooses not to do it,” Mancini said. “I don’t know her. I haven’t had a relationship with her, any chances to meet with her. But us being the largest, we want to take the lead and say ‘OK, we should do a ban.’”

Bruce Nunn, spokesman for the Environment Department, said in an emailed statement that Nova Scotia will continue to be a leader in recycling and waster diversion.

“New, innovative uses and new markets for these materials have emerged in the last year,” Nunn said. “Retailers are taking new approaches, and many consumers are changing how they shop. We all have a role to play. We encourage all Nova Scotians to continue to recycle plastic bags and other film plastic, use reusable bags, and reduce their use of film plastic wherever they can. Our department continues to work with industry, municipalities, and others on solutions.”

Matt Kelliher, manager of solid waste and recycling for HRM, said until the framework of a ban is in place, it’s business as usual for his department.

“We continue to collect the plastic bags in the blue bag system if you have excess that you don’t use for your garbage or for your kids diapers and pet waste,” Kelliher said. “And we also accept them at the curb to put your newspapers in so you can use them instead of using a clear bag. And if you’ve got extra, put them in a blue bag and we will make sure that they are properly managed and not put into a landfill.”

They will take direction from council when a decision is made.

“If we’re directed to create a reduction strategy, then we will have our education team work with the business community to reduce the plastic bags and hopefully come up with some initiatives that we can work with large retailers on reducing plastic bags,” Kelliher said.

“And if we’re directed to create a bylaw or a regulation to phase out or ban plastic bags, then we would have to work with a number of our internal stakeholders here in HRM and move that through to council through the normal process for that type of regulation.”

Mancini said single-use plastic bags are a small piece of a bigger environmental picture.

“The plastic bag is low-hanging fruit,” he said. “It’s something we can grab a-hold of and do. It’s not going to solve all of our issues with plastics in the ocean and the waterways, but it’s a piece. It’s a piece that we can grab. It’s the least we can do at our level right now.”

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