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Mostly cloudy with occasional light rain…mainly in the morning. High near 55F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph. Chance of rain 80%..
Cloudy. Low 39F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph.
Updated: November 13, 2023 @ 6:05 am
During the May 22, 2017 Lincoln City Council meeting, 5th grade students from Taft Elementary School asked that the city ban plastic bags.
A recycling site at the Lincoln City Safeway.
The ultimate goal of HB 2509, as expressed Section 3 is, “To prohibit or limit the use of recycled paper checkout bags, reusable fabric checkout bags, reusable plastic checkout bags or single-use checkout bags.”
The Taft Elementary School 5th graders who testified at a 2017 Lincoln City council meeting about banning single-use plastic bags are by now thinking about their 2024 high school graduation.
During the May 22, 2017 Lincoln City Council meeting, 5th grade students from Taft Elementary School asked that the city ban plastic bags.
One thing they can add to their college applications: plastic bag ban advocacy. “Please care about the earth and the ocean and all life on earth,” one student wrote to City Council. “I’m just a 5th grader but I’m also a person just like you.”
While those students may not have convinced the city to enact a plastic bag ban then, their voices may have helped land Oregon House Bill 2509, a 2019 bill that banned most of the state’s retailers and restaurants from using plastic bags thinner than four mil thick. That bill went into effect in 2020, just as COVID struck.
So where are we now
Retailers who primarily sell groceries will also have a kind of graduation in 2024. Next year, under HB 2509, also known as the Sustainable Shopping Initiative, the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) is tasked with collecting reports from grocery retailers showing accounting for the five-cent bag fee that the law imposed.
The reports must also assess customers’ use of reusable bags. Then, in 2025, the DEQ’s first report on how it’s all going is due to the legislature. The DEQ is now in the process of creating a team to handle the upcoming reports.
But unlike a high school graduation, the DEQ reporting requirement came as news to Andy Morgan, who owns Kenny’s IGA in Taft, as well as to Lincoln City Mayor Susan Wahlke. They are not alone.
But as the post-COVID cloud of confusion settles, and as reports continue of animals being harmed by plastic, including a whale that reportedly died with hundreds of pounds of plastic in its stomach, shopping bags are back on people’s minds.
After the DEQ started receiving more general inquiries, the agency created a webpage, “as a resource for local governments, businesses and the public to understand the basics of the new checkout bag requirements and where to turn for more detailed information.”
The ultimate goal of HB 2509, as expressed Section 3 is, “To prohibit or limit the use of recycled paper checkout bags, reusable fabric checkout bags, reusable plastic checkout bags or single-use checkout bags.”
The ultimate goal of HB 2509, as expressed Section 3 is, “To prohibit or limit the use of recycled paper checkout bags, reusable fabric checkout bags, reusable plastic checkout bags or single-use checkout bags,” with the unstated goal being that customers do bring in their own bags to shop with.
But the 2020 race to switch from 0.5 mil single-use plastic bags to 4 mil reusable bags at checkouts had a false start when COVID-19 jumped the gun. Oregon retailers entered an unofficial bag ban grace period until April 2020, when Governor Brown formally issued a temporary suspension of enforcement, citing the COVID-19 crisis and a related paper bag supply shortage.
Then, in January of 2021, the Association of Oregon Counties and League of Oregon Cities issued a joint letter of updated bag guidance to clarify “consumer confusion and retail inconsistencies.”
That letter called for “immediate enforcement” of the requirement to charge customers the five-cent fee for checkout bags, but with temporary enforcement discretion on allowable bags for circumstances out of retailers’ control. The letter also encouraged consumers to bring reusable bags, and said that, “retailers should accept” those bags, with the word ‘should’ underlined.
The bottom line is, customers should have been charged a five-cent fee for checkout bags since at least January of 2021, and should not be restricted or discouraged from shopping with reusable bags.
With the expiration of plastic bag ban grace periods around the state, stores that continue to provide plastic bags less thick than 4 mil may be charged with a violation. Not complying with the provisions of HB 2509 is a Class D violation subject to a maximum fine of $250, with each day of violation considered as a new offense.
Customers experiencing resistance to use of their own reusable shopping bags may contact their local jurisdiction to make a complaint.
According to the DEQ Materials Management division’s webpage on single-use plastic bags, local jurisdictions are the authorized enforcers of the state’s bag rules, even if that city does not have a plastic bag ban of its own.
Class D violations are enforced by law enforcement officers, who may issue a citation to a retailer or restaurant. While non-grocery retailers and restaurants do not have to submit reports to DEQ, they are included in the bag rules overall.
Why is Oregon doing this
Oregon adopted the single-use plastic bag ban largely to reduce costly plastic pollution and waste, but also for safety. Consumers’ options for recycling plastic bags have dwindled because the bags become entangled in recycling equipment, which endangers workers.
One of Lincoln County’s three haulers, Dahl Disposal, points residents to a video on their website that illustrates the mess caused by bags at local transfer stations. In Lincoln City, North Lincoln Sanitary does not accept plastic bags for recycling at the curb or their recycling drop off, only as garbage.
To address the tidal wave of plastic bags in landfills, nature and household closets, the Association of Oregon Recyclers signed a 2019 Surfrider Foundation letter in support of HB 2509. The Northwest Grocery Association also supported the bill with a letter of testimony, which stated, “It is a gentle reminder to the consumer to remember their reusable bags without being punitive.”
Customers may shop at retail establishments using their own bags by walking to shop with a backpack, or bringing reusable bags in from their car. Anyone who does not bring in their own bag should expect to pay five cents at the register for a reusable plastic bag that is 4 mil or thicker, or a paper bag with 40% or more post-consumer recycled content.
Local retail response
Lincoln City’s larger grocery retailers’ response to HB 2509 is varied. Grocery Outlet, which has moved to the former IGA North store location at 2429 NW Highway 101, limits their plastic pollution by not using plastic bags at all.
The Safeway at 4101 NW Logan Road does provide plastic bags, but also hosts one of the only plastic recycling options in Lincoln City.
A recycling site at the Lincoln City Safeway.
The pair of entryway recycling bins are in partnership with a company called Trex, which turns plastic bags into composite decks. All single-use plastic bags can be placed in the bins, and even Safeway’s 4 mil plastic bags are accepted. But customers may want to reuse the Safeway bags first. Denise, a Safeway customer service representative, pointed out that Safeway’s bags are heavy duty, and she said that when it comes to protecting wildlife, Safeway’s bags are “the good ones.”
McKay’s, part of the chain that acquired Newport’s JC Market, had temporarily switched from single-use bags to blue semi-reusable plastic bags that are 2.25 mil thick. But as of November, they’ve resumed using the thinnest single-use plastic bags. For the month of October, McKay’s shoppers were also restricted from wearing shopping backpacks inside the store, a policy that the corporate office recently discontinued in Lincoln City. McKay’s is located next door to Lincoln City City Hall.
Kenny’s IGA in Taft, near the North Lincoln County Historical Museum, is a Lincoln City fixture. While the store dosen’t provide plastic recycling now, the community may recall the store used to.
Owner Andy Morgan said they stopped using plastic bags at checkout in 2008, and stopped offering plastic recycling in 2017. They were mostly hauling it to transfer stations, he said, with some exceptions.
“Someone used to come in and collect the bags to knit into other items, including reusable bags, which you could find at farmers’ markets,” he said.
Morgan said that although he was not aware of the 2024 reporting requirement written into the law, as a member of grocery associations, he’d hear about it in time:
“They lobby for us, and they give us the good news and the bad,” he said, adding that he believes the government is over-regulating, but that he complies with rules and wants to do what is right for the community. Part of that is ordering paper bags without handles, which are not strong enough for people to carry heavy groceries.
“People would grab the handles with $100 of wine in the bag,” he said, “then ask if we’d replace the wine when it broke.”
Bags without handles are cheaper, but they’re a savings for everyone in unbroken wine bottles. Cloth shopping bags are stronger.
“One size does not fit all,” Morgan said, about the regulations. He added that the five-cent bag fee does inspire people to bring in reusable bags, including shopping backpacks used by people who walk to shop. Kenny’s welcomes the reusable bags. “We love it when people bring in their reusable Safeway bags!” Morgan said.
When asked how the city is helping the community adjust to the evolution of plastic bag rules, Wahlke said, “I think the 5-cent fee helps customers remember to bring their own bags next time.” But she added, “public education and community feedback to retailers is what works best.”
Some Oregon cities that had existing single-use bag bans still maintain plastic bag ban FAQ pages, answering questions like, “What is a ‘mil'” and, “When are retailers required to stop providing single-use plastic carryout bags?” The City of Bend’s webpage encourages personal shopping bags with a slogan: “Bring your bag, Bend!”
Lincoln City also uses its website to inform the public.
“We have posted information about the Styrofoam ban on our website and in our monthly council newsletters,” Wahlke said, about a 2020 city ordinance written ahead of this year’s statewide ban on Styrofoam.
That ordinance was signed by then Mayor Dick Anderson, who was present in 2017 to hear those 5th graders testify, along with Wahlke, who was a Ward 1 city councilor in 2017.
Lincoln City was one of a handful of Oregon cities to act before the state did on food service products made of foamed polystyrene, which leaches toxins. But to help restaurants though COVID-19, the city ordinance and enforcement was delayed to give businesses time to use up existing foam container stock.
Though continued use of Styrofoam containers and plastic bags thinner than 4 mil is now subject to citation in Lincoln City, Mayor Wahlke said enforcement has been hard.
Cities can adopt provisions requiring a higher per-bag fee than the state requires, if other enforcement like citing retailers and daily fines are not effective.
Customers using a voucher issued under the Women, Infants and Children Program established under ORS 413.500 may always be given a store checkout bag at no cost.
Learn more at: https://www.oregon.gov/deq/mm/production/Pages/Bags.aspx
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