A growing number of retailers in Edmonton are charging customers for plastic bags when they come through the checkout.

Stores including Home Depot, Zellers and Shoppers Drug Mart are now charging five cents for each bag.

More businesses are likely to follow suit especially since the Alberta government signed a deal in June with retailers to halve the number of plastic bags used in the province by 2013.

Tammy Smitham, spokeswoman for Shoppers Drug Mart, said it was a Toronto bylaw that forced the company a year ago to charge for bags.

"As we looked at our overall efforts to reduce our impact on the environment and to help us divert waste destined for landfills, we decided to roll out the five cent charge to other parts of the country," Smitham said.

Toronto's five-cent-a-bag charge came into effect June 1, 2009.

Coun. Linda Sloan has considered a similar bylaw for Edmonton but said the idea should be shelved following the provincial initiative.

"It seems to me it would be prudent to just wait and see of what have we succeeded in reducing by way of plastic bag consumption and [then] take a look [if there are] any additional efforts needed by the city to strengthen that commitment," Sloan said.

"But at this point in time I think the bylaw is just…I don't see it as being necessary."

Shopper Dick Parsons prefers bringing his own reusable bag, and doesn't mind more stores are charging for plastic bags.

"I don't think it's a bad idea. It discourages people perhaps from using plastic," he said. "The amount doesn't bother me and the idea to get people to not use plastic is worthwhile."

Other shoppers, like Charlotte Easton, aren't happy about paying for bags.

"I personally think the markup is enough, it's in the cost of what you buy," she told CBC News.

"But I mean you're stuck between a rock and a hard place. If you don't bring your own bag, you're going to have to pay for it."