For the past few years, local environmental advocate Michelle Arseneault has faced no shortage of  ‘conventional wisdom’ about why a ban on single-use plastic shopping bags would never work in Dryden.

Never satisfied with the answers she been given over the years, the tenacious 17 year-old has asked some questions of her own and got some answers that she says only strengthens her belief that Dryden is willing to go ‘bagless’.

“I refuse to give up,” she said. “I still think it’s a great idea. It would benefit Dryden socially, environmentally and economically.”

The 17 year-old has had a tough row to hoe ever since she first proposed the idea to city council and convinced dozens of local stores to participate in her Earth Day Challenge — giving up single-use plastic shopping bags for one-day each spring.

Those Earth Day Challenges were also a good opportunity to poll those participating business for their feedback as well as that of their customers.

With just a scant few days left in Dryden before leaving to attend the University of Guelph in the fall, Arseneault appeared before Dryden City Council, Aug. 23, to present findings of her survey of 33 local businesses.

“I think I was mainly expecting an equal amount of positive and negative feedback, but it was overwhelmingly positive from both retailers and customers, so I found that very encouraging,” said Arseneault.

Asking the question, “Overall, how would you rate customer response?, 72 per cent of retailers chose very positive. Twenty-eight per cent chose positive, with no neutral, negative and very negative responses.

Eighty-nine per cent of retailers said customers provided them with positive feedback. Seven per cent of retailers said that customers gave negative feedback when the option of a plastic shopping bag was taken away.

Arseneault admits larger grocery chains and retail stores were underrepresented in her survey, securing the cooperation of only IGA Garden Market.

-Chris Marchand