P.E.I. businesses shopping for bag options to replace plastic

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P.E.I. businesses are shopping around for paper and reusable bags to offer customers when the Plastic Bag Reduction Act takes effect July 1.

Some of the new options were on display at the Eastlink Centre in Charlottetown at a trade show for Island businesses.

"We've laid it all out for them in terms of what their options are and the price points and even if they want their bags logoed," said Kim Green of Kays Wholesale.

"They have come to the conclusion that they've got to do it and it's coming very quickly."

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Kays has even created a P.E.I.-themed reuseable bag that it hopes will be used across the Island.

The bag features a scenic Island view and the gusset of the bag reads "My heart is in P.E.I."

"Everyone needs bags but we want them to want the bags," Green said. 

"We've geared it toward the tourist market and as well to Islanders who may be coming home for the holidays."

The P.E.I. bag, she says is priced at 99 cents per bag, in line with what retailers will have to charge customers under the new legislation.

"I'm almost overwhelmed right now with how I'm going to handle all the orders for bags, which is a great thing," Green said. 

"But we also did a lot of plastic bags so we very much have to replace those bags in terms of a revenue generator so that's why we've been very aggressive on the paper bag front."

Storage issues

Green says businesses are telling her they are most concerned about how they are going to store the paper and reusable bags.

Plastic bags, she says, came in cases of 1,000 and were very condensed, while the paper bags come in cases of 250 and the boxes are considerably larger.  

"They don't have a lot of storage so for me what I'm hearing above and beyond cost is how am I going to store these bags," Green said.

Coady Campbell, from the Water Prince Corner Shop in Charlottetown, was checking out the options at the wholesale show.

"Our business deals with seafood so there's an exemption for seafood, we still use plastic because of the leakage problem," Campbell said. 

"But we also have a restaurant so for take-out, we have to move to paper bags."

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Campbell says, ideally, he'd like to find a waterproof or water resistant alternative to plastic.

"Being in the seafood industry, that's where a lot of our plastics end up, we're cognizant of that," Campbell said.

"It's just what are the options available and that's really what we're searching for right now."

Campbell says he expects that the new rules are going to be a challenge for businesses that cater to tourists.

"I think it will be a little bit confusing, that we have to charge for the bags," Campbell said.

"Unfortunately it's the retailer that has to take the brunt of that."

Campbell expects tourists will catch on quickly. 

"Once the visitor goes to the first place and gets charged their nominal fee for the bag and then they go to the next place, they'll go, 'Oh, everybody has to do it,'" Campbell said.

Advertising opportunity

He says they are considering a reusable bag featuring the Water Prince logo, as some extra advertising.

"It is going to be a costly switch, it's only a partial cost that the customers are paying for the bag," Campbell said.

"It's the businesses that are putting more money on the table for those bags so if we can do some advertisement as part of that, that will help offset the cost."

The P.E.I. Department of Environment has created a Bring Your Own Bag campaign, to help prepare consumers for the new rules.

John Hughes, with the department, points to the examples of Victoria, B.C., Hawaii and California which have already restricted plastic bags, soon to be joined by the state of New York in 2020. 

"Those are all pretty strong tourism markets so I think our small businesses and our tourism operators will adjust nicely," Hughes said.

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