Item B: Plastic Bag Ban - Laserfiche WebLink

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down and be cleaned. The local practice of comingling was stopped in 2008 as a result of feedback from the processors. The latest chapter in the local story of plastic bags was the review of a plastic bag tax by the Lane County Board of Commissioners in 2008. At the request of a concerned citizen, the Commissioners asked staff to assess the implications of a plastic bag tax. Staff responded with a thoughtful analysis and the board deliberated but ultimately decided to not take action on the tax or a bag ban. During the 2010 Legislative Session, SB 1009 was introduced to ban plastic bags in Oregon. Due to the nature of the special session, the bill did not move. In the 2011 Regular Session, the proponents of SB 1009 introduced SB 536. During the interim period, a number of local municipalities (including City of Portland) discussed the implementation of a plastic bag ban, but waited to see if a statewide solution would be worked out at the Legislative level in 2011. When SB 536 did not move forward, individual municipalities once again started the process of evaluating a bag ban. Analysis This section provides summary responses and analysis for each of Councilor Zelenka’s questions. What did the City of Portland enact? On July 21, 2011 the City of Portland passed Ordinance 184759 which amended the Portland City Code by adding Chapter 17.103, Single Use Checkout Plastic Bags. (Portland, 2011) The new chapter prohibits certain retail stores from distributing single-use plastic checkout bags to their customers, encourages the distribution and use of reusable bags, and permits stores to sell to consumers recycled or compostable bags for checkout use, effective October 15, 2011. Within the prohibition of single-use bags. “stores” are defined as: 1. Is a full-line, self-service retail store with gross annual sales of $2,000,000 ($2 million), or more, and which sells a line of dry grocery, canned goods, or nonfood items and some perishable items; or 2. Has over 10,000 square feet of retail space that generates sales and has a pharmacy as defined in ORS 689.005 and which is subject to the rules of the State Board of Pharmacy. The ordinance states that “Stores shall provide only the following as checkout bags to customers: recycled paper bags, compostable bags, or reusable bags.” The ordinance provides for enforcement of the prohibition and penalties of up to $500 for violation of the law. Staff Analysis The ordinance only targets certain sized establishments, which raises equity concerns and reduces the intended objective of the ban. The ordinance does not support retailers to recoup the additional cost between plastic and paper bags. Finally, it promotes the use of compostable bags, which can negatively impact 1) plastic bag recycling by contaminating the commodity, and 2) food waste recycling by adding more bags to the system which can increase contamination as well as costs to process. What did the Legislature try to enact? During the 2011 Oregon State Legislative session, Senate Bill 536 was introduced which would prohibit the use of single-use checkout bags at retail establishments. (Legislature, 2011) Single-use checkout bags include plastic, recycled paper, or other material (e.g. biodegradable plastics) that are provided to the customer at check-out. Exemptions are provided so that retailers can provide single-use recycled paper bags at 1) no cost for customers receiving state support (Woman, Infants, and Children Program and 2 | Page