The Sobeys grocery chain encourages people to recycle bags in bins located in each store, but the program only has a 10 per cent success rate. (CBC)

A Manitoba government initiative to encourage people to recycle plastic grocery bags is destined to fail, says an environmental advocate who wants the bags banned completely.

If people see the government recycling program, they'll still think it's okay to use the bags, said Don Woodstock, a longtime environmental activist in Winnipeg. The only way to change people's perceptions and habits is to eliminate the bags altogether, he suggested.

"That's only going to tell the public that this is okay," he said. "If the general public thinks this is okay, then they'll just take more bags home, and the old habit will stay."

The government recently approved the creation of a plan to establish a waste reduction and prevention program. Being developed by Multi-Material Stewardship Manitoba (MMSM), the plan will focus on how to best recover recyclable from households across Manitoba and divert them from the landfill.

The Manitoba government is set to launch a plastic bag recycling initiative. (CBC)

The provincial minister of Conservation approved MMSM's proposed program on Sept. 24.

Part of the plan, which is scheduled to be implemented in 2010, is to provide more in-store depots for people to recycle used grocery bags. The goal is to reduce the usage of plastic bags by 50 per cent.

However, current organized efforts to recycle those plastic bags are far from successful.

At Sobeys stores in Winnipeg, customers are encouraged to recycle in the Bag 2 Bag bins located at the front of the stores. The bins hold about 500 bags and approximately one bin gets filled per night, according to the manager at one store.

But the manager, who did not want to be identified, told CBC News the store hands out about 5,000 bags per day.

10 per cent success rate

Sobeys Edmonton-based director of communications, Mike Lupien, said a 10 per cent recycling rate is "about right" for all of the stores, but the company is hoping to improve awareness of the bins to improve their recycling rate.

Based on that return rate, 90 per cent of the company's bags likely end up in the landfill.

'The general public is going to use these bags for something. They are not bringing them back to the store.'—Don Woodstock

Many people do give the bags a temporary second life as garbage bags, or to line litter boxes, but eventually, they will find their way into the dump, said Woodstock, who strung together thousands of plastic bags and littered them across the grounds at the legislature this past summer.

While he appreciates the province is trying to do something about the matter, Woodstock believes its plan will actually increase the problem.

"The general public is going to use these bags for something. They are not bringing them back to the store."

A Sobeys shopper confirmed Woodstock's concern.

"I have all mine stuffed until I use them to give to the kids to take lunches or something. What do they do? They throw them in the garbage," said Ron, who didn't want his last name used.

Bags that do get returned to Sobeys bins in Winnipeg are baled and trucked to a facility in North Vernon, Indiana, run by Hilex, the largest manufacturer in the world of check-stand bags. The company melts the bags into tiny plastic pellets and then molds the pellets into new plastic bags.