Breaking News: Portland bans the bag!
July 22, 2011
Breaking news from Portland: Mayor Sam Adams and the City Council have voted to ban single-use plastic bags in the city! The ban takes effect in October.
Why did this ban succeed? It’s simple: these bags are a significant threat to our environment and to public welfare. The facts are straightforward.
- Oregonians use an estimated 1.7 billion plastic bags every year. That’s nearly two billion bags that are not biodegradable.
- These bags overflow from landfills, litter our roads, and pollute our waterways. The plastic from these bags will never, ever go away.
- Banning these bags is not a new concept. San Francisco, Bellingham, Washington, and Los Angeles County have banned the bag. As has Portland now.
Oregon has a proud history of leading the nation in conservation: from the landmark Bottle Bill and public beaches to banning oil drilling off of Oregon’s pristine coasts. Portland has taken a page from our state's great history and banned single-use plastic bags.
Much credit is due to the broad coalition that pushed and pushed to see this through. OLCV thanks our friends in the State Legislature who attempted to ban single-use plastic bags across Oregon in 2011, the coalition partners and environmental organizations who turned out supporters and worked on this issue, and Mayor Adams and the Portland City Council for showing the leadership to pass the ban.
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Being a member of the Clackamas County Steering Committee gives me the opportunity to help support and sustain local and state-wide candidates to protect the environment.
Courtney Johnson, Chair of OLCV's Clackamas County Steering Committee