NUNAVUT
Discarded plastic bags blowing in the wind is a common complaint in communities.
Iqaluit Northmart cashier Taylyn Letaeman-Holst bags a customer's groceries on April 19. - Peter Worden/NNSL photo
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Every day in Nunavut thousands of plastic bags are taken from the grocery store, used once and tossed. The North West Company, the North's largest and oldest grocer, hopes a recent initiative will reduce the number of plastic bags ending up as trash around town and do some environmental good.
This year, the retailer reduced the number of plastic bags used in Nunavut and Nunavik by 1,991,178.
"The communities have done a fantastic job," said Tim Ross, North West Company general Manager for the region. "The last thing we want to see are North Mart bags blowing around the communities."
In 2011, the company started charging $0.25 per plastic bag at the checkout counter in an effort to encourage grocers to switch to reusable bags. The initiative Greener Tomorrow provided two reusable grocery bags to every household and redistributes all the proceeds from plastic bag sales back into the community. Those thousands upon thousands of quarters add up to some big bucks; this year almost half-a-million will go back to communities.
"It's only a small piece coming from everybody's pocket," said Ross, explaining how before the idea, roughly 10,995 bags were used per day throughout Nunavut. In a year, that adds up to over four million – enough bags, said Ross, that if stretched end-to-end in a chain, they would span a plastic link from Montreal to the company's northernmost store in Arctic Bay.
While almost one million bags were still used in Nunavut in 2011, in all, plastic bag usage was reduced by 67 per cent.
This Earth Day, April 22, Northern Store managers at 31 locations throughout Nunavut and Nunavik handed out cheques to hamlet officials, program managers, elders and schools who would determine where the cash would go – a total of $497,000 in plastic bag fees reinvested into community cleanups, youth initiatives, beautification projects and scholarships.
"It's not something we decide where the money goes, but we would like to see it go toward some sort of environmental initiative," said Ross.
In Pangnirtung, which will receive nearly $33,000 in plastic bag fees, SAO Ron Mongeau said since the hamlet's foreman has done an enormous amount of work cleaning up the dump, they've set their sights now on ridding Pang of toxic materials.
"We would like to be able to put together a sea-can or two of the most toxic materials in the community – batteries, computer components, those kinds of things – and make arrangements with a southern recycler to get them the heck out of this community," said Mongeau. "(Greener Tomorrow) is a great program. It gives really helps out the community."
In Iqaluit, $65,480 will help finance a greenhouse project at Aqsarniit Middle School and an elders' land program at Inukshuk High School.
Some grocery shoppers at the checkout counter may be under the impression that the $0.25 per bag is a way for the grocer to increase revenues.
"We don't gain any revenues from this. Every penny spent on bags by the customers goes directly back to the community. (North West Company) does not profit on this at all," wrote Connie Tamoto, manager of corporate communications for the company.
Last year, the North West Company redistributed $273,000 through the initiative, combining with this year for a total now of about $770,000.
