Peggy Revell
It was on a drive back from Kenora one day that district resident Kami Leatherdale realized what a huge problem plastic bags were for the environment.
“I saw a plastic bag hanging in a tree . . . and I thought, ‘How did it get in the middle of nowhere?’” Leatherdale recounted. “And then I thought, ‘We really have to stop using these.’”
This sight first led to Leatherdale creating her own version of the reusable fabric bag.
“So I bought some fabric and I made two sets, and I made them fit into a little pouch so that [my husband] could have them in the cup-holder of his truck, and then mine are in my purse,” she explained.
“Then we bought a whole bolt of fabric and made some more, and gave them away to friends, and then we thought, ‘Hey this is a really good idea! We have to manufacturer it!’”
The design even garnered Leatherdale an honourable mention in last February’s “Idea Factory Challenge” organized by the Northwestern Ontario Innovation Centre in Thunder Bay in partnership with the local Rainy River Future Development Corp.
Now, after months of sorting out how to manufacture the bags, Leatherdale finally is launching her own business to sell her “Breezy Bags.”
She admitted that starting a business can be pretty scary, especially since she’s just starting out and hasn’t sold any yet, but is confident people really will respond to the convenience of the bags.
“I think the most important thing is if the bag isn’t with you, you’re not going to use them,” she reasoned. “And these bags fit into the pocket of your jacket, or your purse, or the cup-holder of your car, so they’re always there.”
Leatherdale had hoped to have the bags in for Christmas. But with them only just arriving, she now is looking to promote them in the coming months, especially with Earth Day approaching in April. They are for sold at Fort Frances General Supply or online at www.breezybags.com
Leatherdale, however, isn’t the only one seeing the need for reusable bags as retailers across the area have noticed an increasing demand for them.
“Most people now, I’ve noticed, are very aware when they come in if they don’t need a bag,” said Connie Cuthbertson of Northwoods Gallery & Gifts on Scott Street. “They are very quick to say, ‘Oh, don’t put it in a bag,’ even if they don’t have one, and a lot of people have their own cloth bags.
“So it’s certainly turning.”
Alongside other businesses in the area, Cuthbertson is combining the promotion of plastic bag reduction with a community cause by donating five cents to the new library’s building fund every time a customer doesn’t need a plastic bag.
“We like to try to find ways to work in conjunction with the community, so this just seemed to be a good fit,” she explained, adding there are a “few dollars” put aside for this year’s donation.
And when she attends the gift show, Cuthbertson plans to be looking for fashionable but practical reusable bags to bring back to her store, like she has had in the past.
“We have had them in the past where they condense down into a small, maybe three-inch, tube that can go into your pocket or keep a handful of them in your vehicle or something, and we had those and they were all gone really quickly, so we’re trying to bring in a wider selection of those.”
Cuthbertson also encouraged people to reuse even the plastic bags when shopping.
“If they even take one small step like that, it can make a huge difference in the big picture,” she stressed. “If we want any sort of a future for our children’s children, then we’re going to have to start doing something now.
“It’s too bad that this sort of mindset wasn’t happening 100 years ago when I was a little girl,” she laughed. “But it really just has hit home. People are realizing the problems, such as Toronto having to haul their garbage miles and miles away.
“It’s such a large problem for everybody,” she added. “We don’t want garbage from other communities in the northern areas, so if everybody does their part, it makes a huge, huge difference.”
The increase in reusable bags has been seen at many other area stores, too.
“Our fabric bag sales have increased significantly over the last year even,” said local Wal-Mart manager Darryl Skinner, who sees customers coming into his store with fabric bags from stores from around town that give them the choice between plastic and fabric—something he said comes from people becoming more aware of the environmental effects plastic bags have on the environment.
“It’s been positive,” echoed Paul Sunstrum of Canadian Tire on the response of customers to using fabric bags.
“It’s a positive thing, and people understand that the environment is an important thing and we want to try to reduce the number of plastic bags in the landfill sites,” he added.
Sunstrum also noted that alongside other retailers, Canadian Tire has promoted reusable shopping bags and has them available on an ongoing basis—something he’s happy the store is taking an initiative on to do its part.
“It’s an environmental concern, just the number of retailers that use the plastic bags, it’s important that we realize that that number is getting higher and higher and we have to reduce it,” he stressed, adding it’s the same as many other needed environmental actions such as reducing fuel emissions from cars.
The increasing use of, and demand for, reusable bags is something the local Safeway store also has seen, said Canada Safeway public affairs manager John Graham.
“Certainly more recently we’ve noticed a dramatic increase in demand for our reusable bags,” Graham said, noting that at Safeway, they’ve noticed about a 300 percent increase year over year for their reusable bags.
With this increase in demand, Safeway itself has done things like allocate more space, and more obvious and convenient displays, for their reusable bags, Graham said. And there are plans for even more promotion of the bags, such as putting together a plan to offer incentives, like Air Miles or other bonuses, come the spring.
These types of initiatives go alongside others Safeway already has in place to be environmentally-friendly, such as its recycling depots for plastic bags.
There hasn’t been any dramatic savings at this point with the reduction in plastic bags, Graham conceded.
“But it’s not really about the savings,” he remarked. “It’s more about the contributing, being a good corporate citizen, and making sure we’re providing options for our customers.
“We’ve put more money than we’ve saved into the awareness of our reusable bags, into contributions around Earth Day and environmental projects we see around,” Graham added. “So it’s sort of an area we’re investing in, and we’ll continue to commit ourself to doing a better job.
“I think that any time that we can respond to the growing interest of the community, whether it be carrying fair trade and organic products, or providing an easier way for people to reduce the use of plastic bags, that’s something that we like to respond to,” he continued.
“It’s really a trend that’s a good trend, and we want to be part of the solution.”
