Leading the charge

Yes, many Islanders are doing what we can to limit our carryout bag stockpile, but is this truly enough? It seems as if the market for carry-out bags overseas is completely saturated, and is the situation getting any better? Our young society and the environment itself is playing catch up with the generations of bad environmental practices that have been left.

Maybe it’s time that our little island does something that could possibly create a spark that leads to a fire of great change. I’m talking about banning carry out bags islandwide. This would be a tremendous statement in the effort to do right by the environment and our representation as a green island. Not to mention take a load off of the current recycling market. With a much smaller portion of the Island Waste Management Company’s resources focused on carry out bags and plastics of that nature there is enormous opportunity to divert focus to other areas of IWMC’s domain. Would there be push back from bigger corporations? Well, yes, doing anything that involves great change, even if it is in a positive direction, will always involve poking at the proverbial hornets’ nest. However, if these companies already have programs in place that establish incentives and negatively reinforce the use of carry out bags then we as an island would be taking the logical next steps in keeping this notion moving in the right direction.

The world is changing, and P.E.I. could be at the forefront of such change.

Sam Hunter, Victoria