Why this compostable checkout bag will soon be banned, and how some are fighting back

Calgary businesses and Alberta politicians are pressuring the federal government to exempt compostable checkout bags from its single-use plastic sales ban, which takes effect in December.

The Calgary Co-op is petitioning Ottawa to allow the use of the bags. The store's director of communications, Sage Pullen McIntosh, said they replaced all their plastic bags with an alternative that has a silky feel.

"Immediately, our members said how much they loved them," Pullen McIntosh told CBC. "And they also serve double duty."

The co-op and the bag supplier — working with the city of Calgary — developed a bag that will break down in the city's compost facility in about a month.

The store assumed, because the bags contain no plastics, that Ottawa would permit the bag as it phased out single-use plastic bags — a ban the store supports.

The bags weren't exempted, which "shocked" Pullen McIntosh. The store launched a public petition to get Ottawa to reverse its decision.

"We're just hoping to get enough attention. Enough interest so that we can have more conversations at the federal level," Pullen McIntosh said. "Because we do feel that these bags are worth fighting for."

Both Calgary's mayor and the Alberta government support the store.

"If (Ottawa wants) to do a blanket approach that doesn't work for everybody, we've got that right now," said Calgary Mayor Jyoti Gondek.

"We want to make sure federal legislation isn't inadvertently hampering or hindering innovation in that space," said Alberta Environment Minister Rebecca Schulz.

The bags will be phased out under Environment and Climate Change Canada's Single-use Plastics Prohibition Regulations, which prohibits their sale in Canada after Dec. 20.

Those regulations are part of the department's plan to address pollution and prevent plastic waste.

The department said 15 billion single-use plastic checkout bags were sold in Canada in 2019.

In a statement, the federal environment minister's press secretary, Kaitlin Power, said compostable checkout bags could end up in the wild.