Portland city council expands plastic bag ban
PORTLAND, Ore. – Members of Portland’s city council voted unanimously on Thursday to expand a plastic bag ban in the city.
Under the expanded ban, almost all stores and restaurants will only be able to offer recycled paper bags or reusable bags.
It takes effect for large retailers in March. Large retailers include stores that are bigger than 10,000 square feet, including larger restaurants.
Smaller stores and businesses like food carts have until next October to comply.
Environmental groups gathered in front of City Hall before the afternoon vote. They said the original bag ban was a good start, but more needs to be done to cut down on pollution.
“There have been millions of plastic bags eliminated from our waste stream,” said Tara Gallagher with the Surfrider Foundation. “However, this important first step was not enough in encouraging reusable bag use. That is our ultimate goal.”
The council had originally ruled last year to ban single-use plastic bags from most grocery stores.
Mayor Sam Adams has said with the bigger ban, it'll cut down on the litter the bags create all over the city and cut out problems they cause in recycling plants.
He says a study of the current bag ban shows a big improvement in more Portlanders than ever using reusable bags instead of plastic. So his reasoning is a bigger ban can only be better. He also says an all-inclusive ban will help cut back on the 1.7 million plastic bags used in Oregon every year.
Next time the Bag Monster shows up to protest, throw all your dog poop at him to protest back
@archon312 LOL! Anybody who would do that to me better know how to block a size 10 GI boot to the kidney.
In part, this is a penalty on successful businesses. Â I used to think that shopping "local" was a great idea, you know, it helps local businesses and people...until I had to spend ALL day running around to little hole-in-the-wall shops that charge too much. Â I wonder how much my carbon footprint lessened when I decided to shop in bulk.
Here's an idea for use of the plastic bag: city council can pull them over their heads. Takes care of two problems.
JHC! Looking at the photo you would think every one of these liberals has never left the 2nd grade. How about we ban 40+ year old Portland politicians from chasing little boys.
@last boyscout why are you so conspicuously obsessed with Sam Adams' homosexuality? How many hours a day do guys like you dwell on that, still, after all these years?
 @last boyscout now now, it's only illegal when it's a straight man and a girl...gays can have sex anyway, anyhow and we have to be tolerant
Thats right ,put your freedom and liberty in that plastic bag and just throw it away.
In honor of this story I shall heat my house by burning plastic bags in the fireplace for a week.
@JouThePlumber that would make you as ridiculous and logic-free as them. You're releasing toxins into your community to punish city council. You are an ecoterrorist.
Next: Plastic milk jugs, plastic coffee containers, plastic bottles, etc. After that, car components. After all glass bumpers and fenders can be easily recycled.
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Wasn't these very same nut jobs that sold us on how easy it was to recycle plastic? And that plastic is infinitely recyclable?
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I guess, somehow, recycling isn't noble unless it involves tedious effort. Here's a wild idea. If you want people to recycle, make it EASIER. Put your bag of bags in with the other plastics. Or, have plastic bag recycling bins at every store that uses them. Let the STORES decide if they want to use plastic bags and how to recycle them. Then, let ME decide which store I'm going to use.
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I guess you could say I'm PRO-CHOICE.
Well I have several cases of plastic bags that I'll just take with me when I go shopping in Portland, besides try putting dog waste into paper bags, talk about stupid bans, let's ban the present mayor instead.
So then people will buy plastic bags that are produced with more resources to put in their garbage cans, which will actually create more waste and add to peoples' expenses. Brilliant.
idiots!!!!
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 @HarryJuku s/episode/season
Have Sam and the gang considered just how a paper bag comes into existence?
Ignoring the loss of a tree, which will be replanted, wood is heavy and uses fuel to haul around. So does papermaking-a relatively large user of energy and creator of greenhouse gases. By some estimates, the manufacture of plastic bags creates less than half of the greenhouse gases of paper, and uses a small percentage of the water.Â
There is also considerable evidence that production of a plastic bag creates less air and water pollution than a paper bag.
I am not sure that the total environmental impact of the simple paper versus plastic question is completely understood, but it certainly isn't a simple decision. While paper might have that nice feel-good environmental feel to it, paper-making is a dirty, energy intensive and potentially polluting process.
 What is most curious is that, unlike anything else in Oregon, there was evidently no need for a detailed environmental impact study of this rule, they just went ahead and did it.
 http://www.deq.state.mi.us/documents/deq-ess-p2-recycling-PaperPlasticSummary_2.pdf
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/18538484/#.UK
@al_02 I think they are mostly hoping that people will use reusable bags more often. Paper bag is biodegradable or can be recycled to make other paper products. It is not a great system but it is better than all the plastic bags you see on the streets and garbage.
 @tony While they may be unsightly, plastic bags blowing around the neighborhood are relatively benign. Papermaking, especially brown craft paper, is notorious for polluting with chloride, sulfur and some other nasty compounds.
"The nine scariest words I have ever heard: Â I'm from the government and I'm here to help." Â -Ronald Reagan
No, paper bags are ok, at least it never rains here in wierdo liberal land...oh wait, it does rain, like every day for 9 months
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stupid communist social engineering hypocrite crap!
I am so pleased that my city government tells me what is good for me and the environment, thank goodness now I can carry my groceries in stupid paper bags that are made out of TREES, oh no! Â I can't use them now either, oh well, I guess reusable bags are the answer, but oh no! I've forgotten the stupid things AGAIN, I guess I just don't sit and think about the environment all day long...I think of work and family and stuff like that....what now?
@archon312 actually you could use hemp bags if it wasn't for the Nanny Statists banning its production because it looks like a certain other plant. Americans can be sub-moronic. Yesterday I went through TSA airline gates in three states with a flare gun in my survival kit. I had to FEDEX my Leatherman survival tool but nobody they had no idea I was carrying an explosive incendiary device. (Do any of you vets remember those little red pen flares?). In ten years, my wife and I have only forgotten our reusable bags once or twice. Not sure what your problem might be but you might want to get checked.
I'm really quite surprised by how outraged and infuriated the neo-con crowd is over the plastic bag issue. What a strange thing to take such a strong stand against. Is this leftover frustration from the election day spanking? "Clinging to your guns and bibles" ... and single-use plastic bags, apparently. So unwilling to accept even the slightest inconvenience. And you accuse liberals of being stubborn and selfish. Sheesh.
 @badcat Most of us would rather use the "single use plastic bags" rather then the not even good for one use paper bags, that tear apart sometimes when placing them in your vehicle.Â
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@BarbWire @badcat bring your own bags like my wife and I and everybody we've known since college have done for at least ten years. If you can't figure out simple solutions such as these... Wow.
 @BarbWire Ahhh, and the point is that one might bring reusable bags that do not tear and hold much more!! But in terms of tearing, I have had just as many "bag fails" using plastic.
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I will say that I advocate for stores to offer the paper bags with handles -- they are much more user-friendly when you forget, or don't bring enough, cloth bags. I always groan inwardly when I find myself stopping by the Freds on NE Glisan without having planned to do so, because they don't have bags with handles (demographics?). And I would be more than willing to pay 5 cents a bag when I forget mine. So many people are cheap, in addition to being lazy. I'm forgetful and willing to pay for it.
 @badcat If you let the government choose anything for you, they will, they can't resist, it's like taking candy from a baby...at least the government is really efficient and makes really good decisions
 @archon312 Are you against vehicle emissions? Industrial waste? The gub'ment telling you that you can't stockpile old tires and burn them in your yard? There are some things that I DO want the government to regulate -- environmental pollution is one of them, wall street & financial institutions are another. We have solid proof of the catastrophic consequences of non- (or de-) regulation. I like clean air and clean water, and I'm not the only one. ;-)
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This is a local experiment. Let's see what happens. It's a small inconvenience and it might solve a big problem. The bottle bill made a huge difference in the number of cans littering our streets and parks, and this could be a good thing too. It requires adaptation and, if you will, evolving. You make it seem like the government is trying to tell you who you're allowed to marry or whether you should be forced to procreate against your will....
 @badcat  @archon312 Too bad the same can't be said for Sam. But Portland seems to keep getting what it deserves. When Charlie comes in, look for the same pandering to the Pearl District crowd and the BTA to continue.
 @archon312 Bloomberg is an amazing mayor and the people of NYC are thankful for his leadership. He has handled the Sandy crisis with skill and grace. You must only watch FauxNews if you think he's anything less than beloved!!
 @badcat I bet Mayor Doomberg in New York city wanted to only regulate a few things...you know, important things like environmental and financial stuff, but now, they are limiting how big my drink can be....what if I am born a giant?  See how easy it becomes to completely indoctrinate the populace Lenin?
Way to get the important work done city council.
Downtown is full of empty buildings and the numbers of homeless are starting to rival the numbers of people with jobs there, but you somehow managed to take the time to do something REALLY important.
Nice work.
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Fools
Perhaps the bag monster will run for mayor next time.
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Will any trees be chopped down to make more paper bags?Â
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Are there enough illegal immigrants available to do the chopping?Â
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Can the stores get paper bags from China or Vietnam?
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Will Fred Meyer and Walmart prices go up to offset the added cost of paper bags?
I bet the kid lives in SE with 6 other roommates. They have "urban chickens" in the back yard and find anyone who fail to ascribe to their logic, "Intolerant." SMUG -holes.Â
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 @boned Too bad he didn't actually take the time to show the plastic problem washing up on beaches. Folks would have taken him a little more seriously. Instead he has photos of someone walking around DT in plastic bags.Â
is this just to keep joan rivers from visiting portland?
 @Phuzz Actually, it is to get Nancy Pelosi & Omama to visit...
I'm glad Portland really focuses on the REAL, pressing issues. Like how there's 0 economy and no jobs here. The town is insanely focused on all the wrong issues in this economy. After living here for 3 years, I'm moving in 2 weeks. It's become clear to me Portland is a town that attracts and harbors every disgruntled reject. Heck. They need a place to go. But if you have common sense, logic and have not been poisoned by Feminist Ideology this is NOT the town for you. (It's even sadder how the males here are more feminine than the females!) What's hilarious is how the whack jobs that live on the East Side shun us West Side, DT folk as "intolerant" because we have logic and have not been brainwashed. Their SMUG -sses are only tolerant of those who ascribe to their Nazi like ideology.
@Lisa I have a job here. Look at downtown. Look at the freeways during rush hour. Look at MAX during rush hour. See all the lights on in the bank towers and commercial buildings? Those are all people with jobs. So when I see people saying there are no jobs, blahdeblahblah, I have to wonder if they're feeling sorry for themselves or if they're just trying to feed me a load of BS. The worst part of your comment is the part about where you said you moved here. I was born here. I'm tired of people moving from places like California or the east coast and then expecting it to conform to their expectations and judgment. So, the BEST part of your comment is the part where you say you're leaving. Bye!
@Lisa I live on the East side and am extremely offended by your comments. I am an average person who has lived here for 30 years and do not subscribe to the insane rot (bikes, garbage and paper bags to name a few) coming from the sicko mayor and the warped city council. I believe in my ability to make an informed decision on my own without radical extremists (on both sides apparently) making decisions and judgements on my behalf. I am thinking very seriously on the matter of moving out of Portland and leaving the mess and absurd taxes for you all to play in. As it is I already do my shopping out of County and 'manage' the garbage that does not fit in my can in creative ways. I no longer go downtown, (as many people I know, no longer do) as it has turned into complete chaos and is impossible to drive in. Friends here from Hawaii tried it recently despite my advice to the contrary and came home swearing to never do it again. Yup! Getting out of here is starting to look pretty good...there is not much to stay for actually...
 @Lisa And then congratulate themselves on how "progressive" they are. They are no different than the Republi-tards who got spanked in this election. So busy pushing their blind ideologies that they can't focus on what the people really want, which is jobs, decent pay and a chance to live a prosperous middle-class life. Those ideas entirely escape our city council.
 @Lisa The definition of "diversity" in Portland is being a white bread creative type who shunned their middle class upbringing to travel to Portland, suck off of the government teat and act like hot stuff for accomplishing absolutely nothing in life.
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Don't worry though, Lisa, I'm sure that their fearless leaders will find another pork project to suck in some more federal dollars in order keep the machine running.
 @Lisa Just wait Lisa - Christmas came almost two months early with Santa Omama...
 @boned  @Lisa Yeah with a big bag of .... for the rest of us.
Man there jsuth ell bent on taking away free Garbage bags arn't they? I reuse them as trash bags..I put trash in them...But man, it is not cool that there doing this.
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above statement is in satire, how ever yes, I do reuse these for garbage bags later..prevents and cuts down on store bought trash bags. and saves money too :)
 @lee986321 Where you live there have never been hack-need Liberal Loons running things because folks over there still have the common sense that God gave you. In the PDX Area these folks do not have the common sense that God gave a crowbar with all their touchy-feely crap that makes stupid people feel important...
 @boned  @lee986321 Hey Im in PDX lol and I know I have enough sense to realize we have bigger issues then banning plastic bags.
You idiots  voted Amanda Friz back in office again as she agrees with ban.And people when your walking in parks watch for dog poop as plastic bags are what we use to pick up poooooo.
 @riderofthelegend I ran into a Fritz Pow-Wow in SW Portland several Saturday's a go. I had everything I could do not to let my $0.02 be known as she extended every PC/ Feminist thought under the sun. She was remarking about Old Town going car free on weekends for drinkers and proceeded to make it sound like Old Town needed to be more like SE Ladds Addition. This is the problem. Too many SE Liberals running the city who even want the city to be more like SE. F-That!
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@Lisa @riderofthelegend Southeast has always been associated with tattooed strippers, Copper Penny trash, butt-rock mullets, trans-camaros, heshers, Rockwood, gypsy used car dealers, drunk rednecks and meth. I'm not sure what SE you're talking about.
 @riderofthelegend Does this ban include plastic sandwich bags? Just curious because that is what I use to pick-up dog crap...