Businesses back bag ban

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Portland City Council passed the city's bag ban Thursday.

A rally in Portland Wednesday to garner support for a ban on single-use plastic shopping bags is getting support from a handful of Oregon businesses.

The "Ban the Bag" day begins with testimony and a rally Wednesday morning at Portland City Hall.

"Ban the Bag is important to Keen," said Linda Tom, marketing manager for Keen Footwear, which is hosting a "Pint Night" at its headquarters in the Pearl District to cap the day's events.

"We’re not claiming to be a perfect brand, but we do think that small tweaks in our consumption habits are important," Tom said.

Keen CEO James Curleigh joined several dozen other businesses owners — such as Food Front Grocery, the Bike Gallery and Green Hammer Construction Inc. — and nonprofits who signed a letter to the members of Portland City Council urging the city to follow San Francisco and Oakland in banning the bags.

The letter cites the 100 billion petroleum-based plastic checkout bags used each year in the United States — and that fewer than 5 percent of them are recycled.

The Portland chapter of the Surfrider Foundation is leading the charge against the ban in Oregon. The group is aiming at a Portland ordinance in advance of a statewide ban.

"One in eight people in Oregon live in Portland," said Stiv Wilson, chairman of Surfrider’s Portland chapter. "If we can get it done here, then we shift our focus to the state."

A statewide ban in California, known as Assembly Bill 1998, will be voted on next month.

"It’s an important issue for Portland to take action on," said Scott Hamlin, co-founder of Portland-based clothing company Looptworks.

Looptworks sends clothing orders out in reusable totes, rolled up with duct tape in the hopes that they might find a second life carrying groceries.