Students from Cecil Rhodes School will keep a close watch on today's legislative debate on the banning of plastic bags.
The students, whose video on the topic won a national award, are trying to convince the provincial government to get on board a plastic bag-banning bill
.The junior high students have put the hard-sell on MLAs to back the long-shot legislation with a mail-out of post cards in support of Liberal leader Jon Gerrard's private members bill which will be discussed today.
"They're hoping the province will take a lead across Canada," said teacher Andrea Powell of the students who produced an award-winning video about the bag dilemma.
The legislature would ban single-use plastic bags like the kind you get at the grocery store. If the Doer government supports the bill -- which is unlikely -- the ban could start as early as next year.
But the province's plan to deal with the pesky plastic bags remains murky, despite more than three years of consultations and study and growing public pressure for a crackdown. The bags clog up landfills, entangle wildlife, litter streets and are almost impossible to recycle. Manitobans use about 200 million of them each year.
Regulations are expected this spring that would create an industry stewardship board to manage the gathering and recycling of bags, newspapers and other paper goods and packaging. But that group still needs time to draw up a plan and there's no telling yet what it might recommend -- perhaps a levy on bags to fund a recycling program.
It's not clear yet what the province's reduction target might be.
"We want a comprehensive way in which we can deal with all waste steams," Conservation Minister Stan Struthers said.
However, Gerrard said a ban makes the most sense and he's hoping the NDP will support his bill today instead of killing it.
"The simplest solution is a ban," Gerrard said. "China is doing it, and we should not be falling behind China in terms of our environmental approach."
Resource Conservation Manitoba executive director Randall McQuaker said his environmental group is advocating a 25 cent levy on all bags to fund a recycling and education program. That's the model Ireland used and it cut bag use by 90 per cent.
"There seems to be some institutional paralysis on this issue even though it's one with a lot of public interest," McQuaker said. "They're such an everyday item that it seems intuitive to people that something ought to be done."
In March, Winnipeg city hall rejected a city-wide bag ban.
maryagnes.welch@freepress.mb.ca
On the Ban bandwagon
Leaf Rapids -- Banned in 2007San Francisco -- Banned in 2007China -- Ban starts June 1 South Africa -- Banned in 2003
Bags aren't so bad
It might be unhealthy to carry meat in anything other than disposable bags.
Paper bags are actually worse for the environment to manufacture, transport and recycle.
Plastic bags tend to be reused at a fairly high rate.
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