The community of Nain, in northern Labrador, has followed through on a promise to ban plastic shopping bags, becoming one of the first places in the province to do so.

Stores in the community are now no longer permitted to hand out the bags. People will have to use boxes or cloth bags, or they'll have to buy paper bags.

Sarah Erickson, the head of the Inuit community government in Nain, said every household in the town received five free reusable bags in November.

She said the ban, which was voted on by the community government in late July to come into effect Monday, should cut down on litter.

"In the spring will be the best time to tell," she told CBC News, "because when we have our spring cleanup, you know, that's the majority of the cleanup are the plastic bags. Anyone that's flown into Nain will see them scattered all through the bush around the airstrip."

Erickson expects people to support the ban.

The community, with a population of 1,200, was going through more than 100,000 plastic shopping bags each year.