YELLOWKNIFE - Yellowknife shoppers are gobbling up a re-usable grocery bag alternative at one of the city's grocery stores.

Extra Foods cashier Jody Matheson holds up one of the 99-cent green bags that have been selling like hotcakes at Extra Foods on Old Airport Road. - Guy Quenneville/NNSL photo Re-use or throw away Would you support a ban on plastic grocery bags? Yellowknifer wants to know whether you support a suggestion to ban single-use plastic garbage bags. Call our 24-hour, automated telephone poll at 920-4298. Press one if you support such a ban; press two if you don't. Tell us your first name if you agree to have your comment posted on nnsl.com Deadline to call in your comment is 5 p.m., April 20. Answers will be printed in Yellowknifer April 25. So far, 67 people have called in their votes. Support on council for bag ban Earlier this month, the community of Leaf Rapids, Man. enacted a bylaw banning retailers from selling or distributing plastic bags for single-use. Yellowknifer asked city councillors whether they would consider such a bylaw for Yellowknife. All of the councillors except Paul Falvo, who was out of town and could not be reached for comment, responded to the poll. COUN. LYDIA BARDAK / YES "That's the new reality. There's a lot of hard things we're going to have to do as we move into the future. And so we have to find the best way to suit everybody." COUN. BOB BROOKS / UNSURE "I'm unsure at the moment. I also want to talk to Public Works in regards to how they feel the problem is. I've discussed it with people. Mothers, in particular, like to use those bags to wrap up their diapers." COUN. MARK HEYCK / RELUCTANT AT THIS POINT "I think we need a little more information before we go that far. I think the idea has merit. I think we need to look into it a little further in terms of whether we were to have an outright ban or put a small charge on the use of those bags." COUN. DAVE McCANN / NO "To me, there's a bit of theatre in that (Leaf Rapids decision). I'd rather be more positive about it. Doing the theatre, it's all very thrilling but I think making people realize that there's a cost to bags - both to the environment and financially, by charging for bags - is a much more sounder step." COUN. KEVIN KENNEDY / YES "I would be in support of it but I'm not sure it's our highest priority in terms of waste reduction. Cardboard is a more pressing issue right now." COUN. SHELAGH MONTGOMERY / YES "Absolutely, but I'm in support of a gradual process. It's not something that we would do tomorrow. I think, if anything, we would start the way Leaf Rapids did when, last year, in September, they had a little surcharge for bags and then got people used to it." COUN. DAVID WIND / NO "I'm not really a strong proponent of changing that. I'm just not someone in favour of legislating every little bit of behaviour as far as people are concerned."

Reusable recycled plastic grocery bags, which premiered last Saturday at the Old Airport Road Extra Foods, sold "extremely quickly," said Robert Byers, general manager of Extra Foods.

"We began putting them out last Saturday as part of a company- directed initiative," said Byers. "We charged 99 cents a bag.

"The response, so far, has been positive and exceptional as far as the numbers of people picking them up. Probably approaching a thousand units already."

As of Monday afternoon, the store had completely run out of bags and needed to order more.

The bags were launched as part of a nationwide effort by Loblaws, which owns Extra Foods, to reduce the number of disposable plastic grocery bags that go home with shoppers, and ultimately fill up the city's landfill and clutter trails.

"It's a national initiative launched out of Loblaws all across Canada," says Tara Dudar, public affairs assistant manager for Westfair Foods Limited, the company owned by Loblaws. "All Loblaws stores began offering this alternative this week."

"This move is an addition to a program that we launched 20 years ago called the PC Green Line," added Dudar.

"The re-useable bags are a new addition to the line. Previously, we offered PC Green boxes that retailed for $3.99.

The re-useable bags were seen as a new addition to the line for a lesser cost. We just wanted to give consumers two options. If they don't want to use the box, they can use the bag."

Dudar said the decision to offer re-usable bags simply reflects the concerns of Loblaws customers who worry about their effect on the environment.

"It's a response to increasing consumer demand for environmentally-improved products and the recognition that something must be done.

"We're expecting a great response from it based on the fact that the consumers asked for this."

The black bags are made from recyclable material, including the threading and the handles.

The bags are made from recycled plastic beverage bottles. At the end of their projected lifespan - which Dudar says is approximately 50 shopping trips or one full year of shopping - customers can return the bags to the store, where they will be recycled again.

A poll conducted by Ispos-Reid on behalf of Loblaws projects that using the green shopping bags weekly will divert 100 plastic bags from Canada's landfills every year.

Extra Foods is not the first area grocery store to offer its customers an alternative to plastic bags. The Yellowknife Direct Charge Co-op has been offering its customers re-usable bags for years.

The move by Extra Foods is seen as an encouraging sign to some environmentally-minded city council members.

Coun. Shelagh Montgomery worries that "plastic bags tend to hang around for an extremely long time. You see them blowing in the wind, stuck on a tree. I just think there are so many easier ways of transporting your groceries without the need for a plastic bag that often just gets used once."

"Anything we can do to reduce the amount of white plastic bags flying through the air is a good thing," agreed Coun. Lydia Bardak.

Not everybody is impressed by Extra Foods' move to reduce plastic bag waste, however.

"I think it's great that Extra Foods is doing this," says Doug Ritchie, program director for Ecology North.

"But there are more effective things people can do to reduce waste.

"I personally go by the philosophy that the heavier the object that's creating waste, the more significant it is. More people should be paying attention to the things they purchase that are harmful to the environment.

"Lots of people may use re-useable bags but they're still driving to the grocery store in Hummers."

The Extra Foods re-usable bags come in the wake of a ban on plastic grocery bags in stores in Leaf Rapids, Man. Earlier this month, Leaf Rapids enacted a bylaw preventing retailers from selling or distributing single-use bags, with a possible fine of $1,000 a day for those ignoring the ban.