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Wednesday, July 14, 2010

Green Mayor Promises to Act on Banning Plastic Bags

Posted by Sarah Mirk on Wed, Jul 14, 2010 at 10:20 AM

I make a motion to ban cosutmes from City Hall.
  • I make a motion to ban cosutmes from City Hall.
There is nowhere to sit in city hall. Blame the environmentalists. Over 150 people wearing blue "Ban the Bag" shirts are packed into city council's chambers, turned out by a coalition of green groups who are trying to get Portland, and then the state, to ban single-use plastic bags from grocery stores and corner shops. Of course, Portlanders had strong incentives to join Ban the Bag's camp outside city hall this morning: Free Tiny's coffee and VooDoo donuts.

After hearing testimony from the Ban the Bag activists, Mayor Adams received a standing ovation when he closed the session with the promise, "By the end of the week, we will have a draft of our ordinance out that will ban single-use grocery bags."

Though banning the bag got big support at council, ridding the city of grocery bags is clearly going to be an uphill battle. That's why enviros are laying in the troops now: Council isn't even voting on a plastic bag ban anytime soon, but the green groups want to show strong support for a controversial issue.

Without good organizing on the Ban the Bag side, Portland could repeat what happened in Seattle last year. Our sister city approved a 20-cent fee on plastic bags but after heavy outreach by the American Chemistry Council (which represents plastic bag manufacturers), the voters repealed the "bag tax."

Tim Chestek of the American Chemistry Council says his group will certainly fight a bag ban in Portland, too. They say that cities should focus on promoting bag recycling programs rather than banning plastic bags altogether. "You won't get an argument from us that our product shouldn't be littered," says Chestek.

That's the problem with plastic bags: They make up a huge amount of our trash, comprising a whopping 12 percent of marine debris. "Our ocean's becoming a toxic soup of plastic, it's killing a million sea birds a year," says Brock Howell of Environment Oregon. Howell says about 40 jurisdictions nationwide either ban or tax plastic bags, so Portland's wouldn't be anything new, but it would be one of the biggest cities so far to take the anti-plastic plunge.

Environment Oregon is pursuing a statewide ban on retail outlets using the single-use bags. The Department of Environmental Quality would likely be in charge of enforcing the law in stores.

Some stores in Portland have already voluntary taken paper's side in the paper vs. plastic question. You won't find plastic bags at New Seasons or Whole Foods and they pass along a five to ten cent paper bag fee along to customers who don't bring their own.

 

Comments (17) RSS

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1
I fucking love the name of the American Chemistry Council. Is that something I can donate to to become a card carrying member?
Posted by Rusty! on July 14, 2010 at 10:24 AM · Report
2
I see while there is no time to deal with the funding crisis for mental health, or stop giveaways to developers (W Burnside couplet, godawful condos on Belmont) there is plenty of time for this...
Posted by Mike H. on July 14, 2010 at 10:31 AM · Report
3
Why in the world can't they make it easier to recycle these bags? It's virtually impossible even for people who would like to. Who's going to carry them all to the grocery store?
Posted by seanpdx on July 14, 2010 at 10:47 AM · Report
4
What is proposed as an alternative?
Posted by pork chop on July 14, 2010 at 10:56 AM · Report
5
Wouldn't a ban on "single-use grocery bags" include paper bags as well?

I'm actually all for banning plastic bags. It's time to recognize that trees are the original renewable resource. If we support sane, responsible forest management while protecting old growth, it means jobs in rural Oregon and a great "green" resource that grows back. The pendulum swung too far towards limiting logging in this state.
Posted by Blabby on July 14, 2010 at 10:59 AM · Report
6
@Blabby: I sort of agree with you, but (god, this is going to make me sound like a hippy) we'd be better served by using bamboo or industrial hemp for our paper making needs. They have a faster growing period and require less industrial processing to get into a pulpy state.
Posted by Graham on July 14, 2010 at 11:11 AM · Report
7
The thing about recycling is that plastic grocery bags are the lowest form of plastic, they are recycled into something that can never be recycled again. The alternative is for people to be responsible and bring their own cloth reusable bags. I agree that paper isn't the answer either, we need to stop being lazy and think about something other than ourselves once in a while. The pollution these bags cause is ridiculous. 94% end up in landfills or the ocean. Is the convience of one-time use plastic bags really that important to you?
Posted by ivaceleste on July 14, 2010 at 11:41 AM · Report
8
I say tax the shit out of them. A bump in revenue and people will stop using them. It worked in Ireland.
Posted by The Immortal Goon on July 14, 2010 at 11:53 AM · Report
9
Graham
That's a good point regarding other paper sources. Pulp is usually just the by-product once more useful chunks are carved out of the tree.

Personally, I think we should have another look at wood and paper as a replacement for all kinds of plastic applications.
Posted by Blabby on July 14, 2010 at 12:31 PM · Report
10
I not sure this is bag ban a wise idea. With all of the bacteria in reusable bags and the ick of paper mills this must the worst idea of the year.

University of Arizona Study finds no one washes bags and they are full of deadly germs.

http://www.uanews.org/node/32521
Posted by MountainClimber on July 14, 2010 at 12:45 PM · Report
11
"the ick of paper mills"?
Posted by el cubano on July 14, 2010 at 1:31 PM · Report
12
I was just in Europe. You have to bring your own bag, or pay for a bag. This has been going on for at least the 40 years I have been going there. Most everyone brings a bag with them.
They also have had light switch timers that turn off the lights in hallways, and on demand water heaters for all of those years, too. Probably way longer.
Posted by v.renwick on July 14, 2010 at 1:43 PM · Report
13
MountainClimber = PR flak for corporate interests opposing a ban. Can you try a bit harder to blend in?
Posted by thwack on July 14, 2010 at 2:33 PM · Report
14
It's far-out and incomprehensible, Mountain Climber, that reusable things need to be cleaned. I clean my reusable plates, my reusable clothes, and I even clean my reusable bed linens. It's quite radical.

It's important that we start now in banning the bag, because it simply isn't environmentally sound. We're creating a bigger mess for the future generations every time we put it off. They cause trouble in recycling centers, they litter our oceans and our streets, and we use them to large excess.

If they're doing it in Europe, it can be done here. It's not as if we're less capable than Europeans. My only concern is that people who are already marginalized in society, those in poverty, are going to have trouble buying enough bags. Excruciatingly long bus rides are the norm in areas where you have to travel long distances to get anywhere but a convenience store.

However, that doesn't at all change my opinion on the issue. We must stop using one-use plastic bags, end of story. We simply also must consider the people who have lives that are already difficult, because it won't be the suburban housewife driving a minivan that will find a true inconvenience.
Posted by screaming-undead on July 14, 2010 at 4:15 PM · Report
15
I wonder how many of you are aware of the new (relatively) cottage industry of growing poplar trees for pulp manufacturing. Up by Boardman, there are several miles of them growing on both sides of I-84. Also along OR 30 out by Clatskanie and also in Wa. state. It is my information that the trees are genetically modified to grow fast, as I believe they harvest them every 7 years. It's a good deal for land owners as they are paid for the use of their land and ther is no effort required of the land owners to grow them. When did the grocery stores stop giving you a choice of paper or plastic?
Posted by ujfoyt on July 14, 2010 at 6:08 PM · Report
16
The next step is banning all bags.
I think they call it thoughtful consumption.
http://www.portlandonline.com/bps/index.cf…

People should not own more than they can carry without them.
Posted by Rosy on July 15, 2010 at 2:55 AM · Report
17
I simply cannot think of any sane reasons why putting a ban on single-use plastic bags would be a bad idea. That is, unless you really want to believe that "someone" who deals in chemicals really has our environments and our futures best interests at heart. Plastics in general are simply the farthest things from natural, so if we are truly concerned with our collective health, and the health of innocent wildlife and the longevity of our way of life, we need to start considering ways we are negatively impacting each of these, and be willing to accept change.
Posted by Imalittleconcerned on July 23, 2010 at 1:04 PM · Report

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