SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE - The Yellowknife Direct Charge Co-op has gone through seven cases of plastic bags, at 2,000 bags per case, since the GNWT's bag levy came into effect almost one year ago.

Ken Hall holds a reusable bag – two of which will be distributed out to residents of the NWT when Phase 2 of the bag levy program, requiring all retailers to charge the levy on bags, is introduced in February. - Tim Edwards/NNSL photo

Before the levy, the store went through about 25 a week, according to the general manager.

"We haven't ordered them since it came into effect," said Ben Walker.

Grocery stores across the territories were required by territorial legislation to charge 25 cents per plastic bag given out to customers at the till starting on Jan. 15, 2009, and on Feb. 1 this year that will expand to all stores regardless of the product they sell.

The fee is collected from the plastic bag distributors, most of which operate out of southern Canada, and charged to the grocery stores buying the bags. The grocer then recovers the cost at the till, according to Ken Hall, manager of environmental protection for the Department of Environment and Natural Resources.

Hall said the government does not have hard data on how the program has worked out so far, but through anecdotal information he said it seems to be a success.

"The community representatives that we have contacted have noticed a significant number reduction in bags going to the landfill," said Hall, adding that some communities have seen a reduction in bag sales of over 50 per cent – and that is, after all, the very mission of the program.

He also claims this program is the first enacted in territorial, provincial or state legislation in all of North America.

At a meeting last fall between senior environment bureaucrats from around Canada, GNWT staff were asked about the implementation of the program and how successful its been by provincial staff from provinces including Alberta and Ontario, according to Hall.

"We discussed it at the meeting and received a fair amount of interest and questions from the provinces on how it was going," said Hall.

All of the money collected by the levy – $166,000 in the first nine months, according to Hall – has to, under the NWT Waste Recovery Act, go into the Environment Fund, which can only be paid out into "waste recovery programs."

The only other program putting money into the fund is the plastic bottle recycling project, which also uses some of the fund's cash to cover transportation costs for the bottles.

The money collected by the bag levy is being used for promotion, advertising and education campaigns on recycling, as well as promotional items for the bag levy's next phase – retailers will get posters explaining the program, and each home in the NWT will receive two reusable bags that can be folded into a small bag, about three inches big, and clipped onto a person's pants via a recycled aluminum clip.

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