MEDICINE HAT, AB – Plastic bags might soon be a thing of the past in an effort to go green.
Most grocery stores and businesses are charging for plastic bags while some communities are even banning them.
Sobeys stores will stop offering single-use plastic bags by January 31st.
Stores in the town of Devon, Alberta can no longer distribute single-use plastic bags as of this week.
In Medicine Hat, Randy Wong Green For Life Operations Manager says the plastic market is certainly changing, with very few plastics recyclable now.
“The biggest culprit probably being shopping bags. And so the local grocery stores we’ve seen a recent trend where we’re having to pay for bags now. So I can see coming probably in the future that bags will be eliminated from the program. It hasn’t happened yet so it’s status quo for what’s being accepted in Medicine Hat collection.”
He says recyclable materials have doubled over the Christmas break at the transfer site and will continue for another two weeks.
Items that can be recycled in the blue bins are on the city of Medicine Hat website or the Recycle Coach App for Apple or Android smartphones.
