SunCorp

Another Quebec town has vowed to outlaw the distribution of plastic bags at grocery stores and other retail outlets.

The announcement by the town of Huntingdon this week that it plans to ban non-biodegradable bags on Jan. 1, 2008, came as part of an ambitious green plan tabled by Mayor Stephane Gendron at a council meeting Tuesday night.

It follows on the heels of a similar announcement by the town of Amqui, Que., last week.

Huntingdon, which is located about 75 kilometres southwest of Montreal near the New York State border, voted in January 2006 to stop its recycling operations because the private recycling company serving the town was planning to triple the city's fee for the service.

The town then took some time to reconsider how it was managing its waste.

The result is a green plan that would have Huntingdon operating its own recycling plant, opening an "eco-centre" that will serve the surrounding region, and a composting facility with curbside compost collection.

Gendron says his plan will allow the town of 2,666 to meet the Quebec government's goal for all Quebec municipalities to divert from landfill -- by recycling, composting or otherwise reusing -- at least 65 per cent of divertible waste by 2008.

Halting the recycling program was "the best decision we've ever made," said Gendron in a written statement.

"The cost of recycling has exploded over the past few years and nobody was asking the question: who is profiting from this new fad and this sentiment of guilt?

"Obviously, it is an oligopoly of a few deep pockets grabbing the taxpayers' money in the name of the environment. This situation is a real scandal. Despite the prevailing winds, we refused to be a part of this and we took some time to think about how we were doing things."

Gendron says his plan will bring jobs and business to the region, will cost less than paying private companies to do the work, and will even generate some profit for the town.

As for the plastic bags, a draft bylaw was tabled Tuesday, and Gendron hopes to pass it at a special council meeting to be held next week. If it passes, the law would come into effect on Jan. 1, 2008, and Huntingdon would beat out Amqui by about a month.