Bye-bye Plastic Bags

Ralphs introduces its plastic bag, circa 1970s. Credit: jericl_cat

Wait — wasn’t there already a plastic bag ban?

There was, in 2020, on single-use plastic bags. This time, the thicker, 4-millimeter-thick bags meant to be reused several times — you know the ones — have also been nixed.

Gov. Tina Kotek signed Senate Bill 551 into law on June 5, mandating that retailers, grocers and restaurants stop providing customers with plastic bags of any variety, beginning Jan. 1. 2027. The state legislature gave the bill bipartisan support.

“In recent years, Oregon leaders have recognized the negative impacts of plastic pollution, and this new law will help us build a cleaner, greener future here in our state,” Celeste Meiffren-Swango, state director of Environment Oregon, said in a press release.

Disposable plastic bags of any thickness add pollution and pose risks to human health and that of the environment and wildlife. Authorities said the thicker bags, despite their intended reusability, ended up in the garbage and elsewhere as litter.

Oregon’s previous single-use plastic bag ban went into effect Jan. 1, 2020. This time, lawmakers sought to take the ban further. The bill’s chief sponsor, Sen. Janeen Sollman (SD-15) said that plastic bags, on top of compounding pollution, add costs to business owners.

“Senate Bill 551 is an important step in addressing this large source of plastic pollution, and I’m proud to see it signed into law,” Sollman said.

Oceana, a conservation nonprofit, reports that plastic bags wreak havoc on wildlife, particularly marine life. Sea turtles, for example, prey on translucent invertebrates like jellyfish and sponges; too often, they mistake plastic bags as food. The plastic film clogs their digestive tracts, leading to starvation.

“Addressing pollution from plastic film bags is a huge win for our environment,” said Tara Brock, Oceana’s Pacific legal director and senior counsel. “Flexible plastic is the deadliest type of plastic to marine animals. Oregonians overwhelmingly support state policies that reduce single-use plastic, and we commend the Oregon legislature and Governor Kotek for listening to their voices.”

Senate Bill 551, despite its bipartisan support, wasn’t the across-the-board success some lawmakers hoped for. The House cut some provisions that would have bolstered Oregon’s existing “straws upon request” laws. These provisions would have required customers to specifically ask hotels for single-use plastic toiletries. The same would have gone for plastic utensils and single-serving condiments at restaurants.

Charlie Plybon, the Oregon senior policy manager for the Surfrider Foundation, wasn’t stoked about the trashed provisions.

“It’s a shame that some individuals in the House couldn’t support the ‘ask first’ portions of the bill, which really only stand to save businesses money and provide them and their customers with more freedom and choice to cut waste,” Plybon said. “But we’re excited that the most substantive part of this bill — saying goodbye to those thicker plastic checkout bags — was enthusiastically supported and retained.”

Remembering to bring tote bags to grocery stores and to restaurants for leftovers, for example, will take some getting used to for some folks.

“People realize quickly it’s easy to live without plastic bags and get used to bringing a bag from home or skipping a bag when they can,” said Charlie Fisher, director of the Oregon State Public Interest Research Group. “Plastic bag bans mean less waste and less litter. For our children to inherit a less polluted earth, that’s exactly what we need.”

Twelve states — California, Connecticut, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, New Jersey, New York, Oregon, Vermont, Colorado, Rhode Island and Washington — have some form of statewide ban on single-use plastic bags, according to a 2024 report published by the U.S. Public Interest Research Group.