We’ve known for a long time that single-use plastic bags are wasteful. They create plastic pollution in our communities, threaten our health and the environment and can harm wildlife. Nothing we use for a few minutes should threaten our health and pollute our environment for hundreds of years—especially when it’s “stuff” we don’t need.
In 2019, the Oregon legislature passed a ban on single-use plastic grocery bags, which went into effect on January 1, 2020. The ban applies to all retail, grocery and convenience stores and restaurants, and requires a five cent fee for single-use paper bags and all reusable bags handed out at check out.
Unfortunately, some so-called “reusable” bags have shown up in the form of thicker plastic film bags at checkout. And while they are marketed as a bag that can be reused over 100 times, the reality is that few people actually reuse them and instead treat them as single-use. The result? They end up as trash and can harm our environment just like the thinner ones did.
On Wednesday, the Oregon House passed Senate Bill 551, which would eliminate all plastic film bags at checkout at restaurants, grocery stores and other retail establishments in Oregon, with a vote of 33-19.
Senate Bill 551 originally included a phase out of single-use plastic toiletries at lodging establishments and would have added utensils and condiments to Oregon’s existing straws upon request law, but those provisions were amended out in the House Committee on Climate, Energy and Environment.
The bill now heads to the Oregon Senate for a final concurrence vote before heading to the governor’s desk.
