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INUVIK - Plastic bags may become a thing of the past in Inuvik.

Earlier this week, town council discussed the future of the white plastic bags that are used by nearly every store in town.

Mayor Derek Lindsay said the bags end up as litter in the community and are known as "Inuvik ghosts."

Sonia Rinas and Debbie Samson are two customers at NorthMart who use plastic bags. They said the bags get more than one use once they are brought home. Town council is looking to ban plastic shopping bags and replace them with the reusable canvas type. - Dez Loreen/NNSL photo

"They hang in the trees and wave and talk to you as you walk by," he said.

"It's nothing new. Those bags have been a problem for some time.

"We want to meet with the business sector to discuss their possibilities and options. We want to reduce the use of those glorious white plastic bags."

Lindsay said once the stores are on board, the next step would be to hold a public meeting to get input from the community.

"We want the public to know where we are going with this and why," he said.

Lindsay said he hopes council will draft a bylaw that would ban the distribution of the bags from stores.

"The first town in Canada to get online with this was Leaf Rapids, in Manitoba," said Lindsay.

"They made a bylaw against the single-use plastic shopping bags."

Lindsay hoped to get council's endorsement at the Wednesday night meeting and is planning to meet with the stores and public in early October.

"We want to get this moving," he said.

Senior Administrative Officer Sara Brown said the initiative to take the bags out of the stores came from other communities that have already taken steps to eliminate plastic bags.

"Communities like Old Crow have an outright ban on plastic bags," she said.

She said businesses are also looking for better solutions.

"NorthMart is using biodegradable bags now," said Brown.

Council met on Monday to discuss what could be done to clean the streets of the bags for good.

Coun. Clarence Wood said plastic bags have been a bother to the community for years.

He said the issue was raised in 2000, when he and Mayor Lindsay both sat as regular members on council.

Wood added most of the plastic bags end up strung up in trees or on fences around town.

"These bags are a curse to our community," he said.

"They don't disappear and they won't go away unless we do something about it."

Wood said the town should work with the business and residential community to put a stop to the use of the bags.

Coun. Brian McDonald said he was in support of the initiative to cut back on the litter being produced in town.

"It's good to go green," he said.

Other councillors asked what the aim was with the action and wondered if introducing another bylaw is the right answer.

Coun. Terry Halifax said he hadn't heard much of a public outcry against the bags.

"It's a good idea, I'm just surprised to see it on the agenda," he said.

"I don't want us to push an agenda no one cares about."

Halifax said the initiative would take a lot of work and might be seen as controversial.

Coun. Vince Brown said the town should increase its capacity to enforce bylaws before bringing a new one to the table.

"We need a bylaw officer before we can make new bylaws to enforce," he said.

North Mart manager Cliff Stringer said his store offers canvas bags for 99 cents, but the store is temporarily out of stock.

"We're getting another shipment any day," he said.

Stringer said NorthMart is starting a nationwide promotion of the canvas bag alternative.

At Stanton distributing, manager Rino Driscoll said reusable bags cost $2.25 a piece.

Driscoll said his store would be willing to comply with any decision made by council.

Arctic Foods manager Eddie Lavoie could not be reached before deadline.