Adams pushes plastic bag ban

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Portland Mayor Sam Adams

Portland Mayor Sam Adams today introduced a ban on single-use carry-out plastic bags and a five-cent charge on paper bags.

The proposal, which Portland’s City Council could begin considering next week, would:

• Prohibit large grocery stores and retail pharmacies from distributing single-use plastic carryout bags to their customers at point of sale.

• Set a mandatory five-cent charge on paper and compostable plastic bags.

• Require stores to make reusable bags available, either for purchase or at no cost.

• Launch an outreach campaign that includes a public-private partnership to provide reusable carryout bags to interested Portland residents.

"The policy is a smart, pragmatic approach to a real and seemingly insurmountable problem," Adams said in a statement. "It’s an approach shaped by a coalition of businesses, environmental groups and city staff and informed by lessons from cities and nations that have already taken action. Efforts are underway to ban plastic bags statewide in the next legislative session. I support those efforts."

Adams announced the ordinance shortly after a survey of registered Portland voters indicates strong support for plastic-bag bans and paper-bag fees.

Portland-based Grove Insight found that 61 percent of those surveyed favor banning plastic bags and paying 5-cent fees for paper bags. Another 31 percent oppose it while 8 percent are undecided.

Residents responded to the survey after hearing a message that favorably promoted reusable shopping bags.

Of the supporters, 44 percent strongly back the notion. Among opponents, 21 percent said they "oppose, strongly" the bag ideas.

The issue earned attention this week when a handful of activists, each wearing a suit made of hundreds of plastic bags, addressed Portland’s City Council in favor of a future ban.

Businesses involved in the effort include Keen Footwear and clothing company Looptworks.

Adams noted that plastic bags trickle into waterways and storm drains. They can also jam up recycling machines, costing facilities tens of thousands of dollars each month in repairs.

"But globally, plastic bags are far more than a nuisance or an eyesore," he added. "They are part of an environmental crisis, from the oil needed to manufacture and transport bags around the planet to the massive plastic islands of trash destroying our oceans and intoxicating our marine food web."

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