City councillor Jan Stick has changed her mind about an outright ban of single-use bags in Whitehorse.

Instead, Stick, who initially proposed such a ban, now favours a proposal by city officials that combines education, a financial charge for the bags and encouraging the use of bags made up of materials that can break down.

Sabine Schweiger, the city's environmental co-ordinator, presented the proposal at council's standing committee meeting on Monday night.

"I've been swayed," Stick told reporters after the meeting. She noted an eco-charge for the plastic bags would likely encourage people to either do away with them or at least use fewer of them.

In Ireland, she noted, the fee for such bags was around 12 cents. The councillor, who wore her T-shirt bearing the logo Plastic Bags Blow to the meeting, heard of other areas charging as high as 20 cents per bag. It would be similar to the charge customers pay when they buy cans of pop, for example, Schweiger said.

"That would make people think," Stick said, noting that as she did more research on the issue, she came to realize an eco-charge may be more effective.

Schweiger's report to council notes as administration conducted its own research following Stick's original proposed ban, it was found to be a fairly complex issue with a number of other jurisdictions using alternative methods to achieve the same goal of reducing the amount of plastic bags floating around as litter or taking up space in the landfill without breaking down.

"The proposed strategy to reduce single-use bags in Whitehorse includes education, eco-charge and composition of bags (paper, or plastic that is compostable or biodegradable)," Schweiger said in presenting the recommendation.

"These three strategies can easily be expanded to other littered items such as single-use containers (styrofoam and plastic cups/containers) used in the take-out industry."

The city would likely implement the education component at both the retail and consumer levels, possibly working with the Whitehorse Chamber of Commerce.

Together, they would provide the information to businesses on compostable or biodegradable single-use bags as well as alternative options to the plastic bags, such as customers purchasing and bringing their own cloth bags or bin.

"As the primary focus from council is one of litter reduction, regulations to minimize litter will be paramount," reads the report.

"These could include creating a disincentive to purchase any single-use bag in the first place through an eco-charge; and to investigate creating an incentive to collect excess bags or discarded litter through a deposit-refund system."

The eco-charges could also be added to current litter collection programs offered by the city and territory where refunds for the bags would be given to those doing the clean-up.

While the city can get started on the education component, it will have to go to the territory, which would be responsible for approving the eco-charge. The territory has jurisdiction over such charges through the designated materials regulation.

It's also recommended the city approach the Association of Yukon Communities for support on the proposal, with council set to vote on the recommendation next week.

The recommendation is the solution Coun. Jeanine Myhre said she was looking for on the issue.

Already, it seems Whitehorse residents are moving toward plastic bag alternatives on their own, Stick pointed out.

Over the past six months, she said, she has noticed more and more consumers leaving shops with their goods in cloth bags or shopping bins rather than the single-use plastic bags.

More businesses around town also seem to offer alternatives to the plastic bags or have stopped offering the free bags altogether, she said.

Even in Old Crow, Stick said, a store no longer has the single-use bags available.

She also said if there was an outright ban on the bags, residents may move to using the larger Kitchen Catchers, which are in some ways harder on the environment, around their homes rather than re-using the plastic bags they get when they shop.

While Stick has changed her own mind about the ban, she is continuing to keep a copy of a petition (started by an Outside MP) calling for a federal ban to the bags, available at her Well-Read Books store for locals to sign in order to "keep the discussion going."

It also gives those favouring a ban a chance to voice their opinion, she said.

Stick will pass the signatures along to the territory's MP to take to Ottawa.

Rick Karp, the chamber's president, said this morning that while the business community recognizes the need for changes to protect the environment, it has to be done in a fair way.

Already, he noted, the business community is tasked with sorting out the GST and eco-charges on things like pop cans, which creates more paper work for employers who have also had to deal with higher costs for labour, heating fuel and tax increases.

"It always falls on the business community," he said of the mounting paperwork.

After absorbing so many costs, businesses have to pass on costs to the customers, which leads to inflation, Karp said.

With rising inflation, there are consequences, which could include prospective newcomers opting not to move to the city because it's too pricey, Karp argued.

Those are among the things that need to be considered as the city moves forward on the plastic bag issue, he said.

The city often polls the chamber on a variety of issues. Karp is hopeful in this case, now that it's moving even closer to taking action on the plastic bag issue, officials from the city will sit down with the chamber to implement any changes in a way that doesn't negatively impact the business community.

Coun. Florence Roberts was absent from last night's meeting.