A8
BUSINESS
Blue Mountain Eagle
Wednesday, May 1, 2019
House passes bills to ban plastic grocery bags, Styrofoam takeout containers
By Mark Miller
Oregon Capital Bureau
Plastic grocery bags and
Styrofoam takeout contain-
ers may become a thing of
the past in Oregon.
The Oregon House voted
32-28 on April 23 to pro-
hibit retailers and restau-
rants from serving food to
customers in polystyrene
containers, and 42-18 on
April 25 to ban retailers and
restaurants from providing
“single-use” bags to custom-
ers at checkout.
The first bill includes a
ban on polystyrene cups,
plates, bowls and takeout
containers. The second cov-
ers plastic bags, except for
thick plastic bags designed
to be reusable, as well as
paper bags that aren’t made
from at least 40 percent
recycled fiber.
“Everybody here knows
that we have a problem in
our environment with too
much plastic,” Rep. Sheri
Schouten, D-Beaverton, said
on the House floor. “I think
the bigger question is, what
are we all going to do about
it?”
If the Senate also
approves House Bill 2883,
and Gov. Kate Brown signs
it into law, Oregon would
become the first state to ban
polystyrene food contain-
ers. Such bans have become
increasingly common at the
city level across the coun-
try, including in Portland,
Milwaukie and Silverton.
Eugene is currently consid-
ering a ban.
Critics — including sev-
eral Democratic legislators
— note that polystyrene can
be recycled, unlike some
other forms of plastic.
“I do fear the transition
from the polystyrene, which
is fully recyclable, to the
clamshell, fully hard plas-
tic, hinged to-go containers
— which is a lot more harm-
ful to the environment,” said
Rep. David Brock Smith,
R-Port Orford, a coastal leg-
islator who owns a restau-
rant, the Port & Starboard, in
The Eagle/Richard Hanners
State lawmakers are considering bills to ban single-use plastic bags and Styrofoam takeout
containers.
his hometown. “We should
be discussing how we can
make it easier to get these
materials to the recycling
facility so that we can make
a difference, rather than ban-
ning this product.”
However, the number
of recycling facilities that
accept polystyrene foam is
limited — there is one in
Tigard, Agilyx Corp. — and
most curbside services won’t
pick it up unless it’s being
disposed of as garbage.
“Most people will sim-
ply trash their food contain-
ers,” Rep. Janeen Sollman,
D-Hillsboro, said. “They do
not go to the extent that I do,
where I rinse and I store my
takeout containers to later
drive them to Tigard, to Agi-
lyx, for them to recycle. …
When we rely on customers
to self-transport the recycle
material to a singular facil-
ity in Tigard, it means that
a limited amount is recy-
cled, and it ends up in the
landfill.”
Like Smith, Rep. Marga-
ret Doherty, D-Tigard, said
she wants to create a “trans-
fer system” to make recy-
cling foam products more
feasible. Doherty, normally
a reliable Democratic vote,
voted against HB 2883 both
times.
“The intent of this bill is
honest, and we don’t want
things that you can’t recy-
cle out there,” Doherty said.
“But these, you can.”
To Schouten, it doesn’t
make economic or environ-
mental sense for far-flung
Oregon communities to
truck small polystyrene food
containers to Tigard when
restaurants could simply use
more eco-friendly alterna-
tives instead.
“If it’s going to go in the
landfill, let’s make it some-
thing that will biodegrade,”
Schouten said.
House Bill 2509, the bag
ban, would make Oregon
the fourth state to ban plas-
tic checkout bags. California
has a similar law, which vot-
ers approved in 2016. Sev-
enteen Oregon cities have
already banned plastic bags
at stores, including Portland,
Salem, Eugene, Bend and
Hillsboro. HB 2509 is based
in large part on Hillsboro’s
ban, which also applies to
restaurants, Sollman noted.
Critics of plastic bag bans
argue that targeting plastic
bags won’t move the nee-
dle on greenhouse gas emis-
sions, which are the pri-
mary driver behind climate
change. Several studies sug-
gest that manufacturing plas-
tic bags takes less energy
than paper bags, and paper
bags have a larger “carbon
footprint” than plastic.
However, unlike paper
and other wood products,
plastic is non-biodegrad-
able. Experts aren’t sure how
long it would take a typical
plastic bag to decompose
— they haven’t existed for
long enough to observe their
decomposition — but it’s
likely to be on the order of
centuries. Plastic waste also
frequently makes its way
into waterways and oceans,
where it can pose a chok-
ing or suffocation hazard for
animals.
“It is ending up in our
own food chain,” Sollman
said. “We are consuming
this by consuming the ani-
mals that are getting this in
their own system.”
HB 2509 also includes a
five-cent fee for paper bags,
to which the paper industry
objects.
“The charge will increase
costs for working families
and discourage consum-
ers from choosing paper
bags that are easily recy-
cled and do not create haz-
ards for wildlife,” warned
Mike Draper, chairman of
the Forest Products Indus-
try National Labor-Manage-
ment Committee.
Doherty and Smith voted
for HB 2509, but they said
they hope the bag fee provi-
sion will be changed before
the bill passes the Sen-
ate. Legislators who spoke
against the bill also cited
the fee as a reason to vote
against it.
“Enough is enough,”
said Rep. Jack Zika, R-Red-
mond, who opposed the bill.
“We’re nickel-and-diming
our citizens.”
Retailers will collect the
fee. Essentially, it’s a sur-
charge on any purchase for
which a customer requests a
paper bag — although those
paying with WIC or Ore-
gon Trail card benefits are
exempt — thereby helping
to cover businesses’ own
costs for replacing cheaper
plastic bags with paper.
Beyond that, grocers
argue it will prod shoppers
to bring their own bags, thus
CHOICES. CHOICES. CHOICES!
discouraging waste.
“The five cents is really
a trigger to change behavior
— to move to reusable,” said
Shawn Miller, Northwest
Grocery Association lobby-
ist, at a committee meeting.
“We’re not, in any way,
demonizing the paper bag,”
Sollman said.
Businesses could be fined
up to $250 for every day
they violate the plastic bag
ban, if it becomes law.
An earlier version of the
polystyrene bill contained a
similar provision, but it was
stripped from the bill before
it went to the House floor.
Sollman said consumer
pressure can ensure com-
pliance with the ban if it
becomes law.
“It’s going to be impacted
by people,” she said. “They
know the ban. They’re going
to tell restaurants, and con-
tinue to tell folks, ‘This
is something that’s a state
law. You should adhere to
that state law.’ And I think
that people shop and use
their dollars where compa-
nies respect the law and they
respect the environment.”
The plastic bag ban would
take effect on Jan. 1, 2020.
The polystyrene ban would
take effect on Jan. 1, 2021.
The polystyrene bill was
originally slated to pass the
House on April 22, which
was Earth Day. With two
representatives absent, the
bill suffered a rare failure on
the House floor, appearing
to pass before Reps. Mike
McLane, R-Powell Butte —
who had not intended to vote
“aye” — and Jeff Barker,
D-Aloha, switched their
votes to “nay.”
HB 2883 was brought
up for reconsideration the
following morning with all
60 House members pres-
ent, at which point it passed
with the “aye” vote of Rep.
Rachel Prusak, D-West
Linn, who had been out sick.
Rep. Brad Witt, D-Clats-
kanie, also changed his vote
to “aye.”
Both bills still require
Senate approval.
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