SUDs ban in Portland

See how silly we need to dress to get things done?

Have you heard of Bellingham, WA? Last week we brought you news of a plastic bag ban there. This week we bring you the same good news from a place most East Coasters have heard of.

Yesterday, the city of Portland stepped up when the state government couldn't (or wouldn't?) and passed a city-wide ban on single-use plastic bags. The ban applies to the bags you get at the checkout line, but they're still allowed in the meat and produce sections, and at pharmacies (paper bags aren't opaque enough to protect patient privacy?). 

The average Portland resident went through 440 single-use plastic bag bans every year, and based on a city population of about 584,000, that's roughly 250 million bags every year--in a city that doesn't even crack the top 25 largest. Statewide estimates put Oregon's plastic bag use at 1.7 billion. With a b.

The funniest part of the whole thing is that some opponents of the bill did so on grounds that environmental concerns were exaggerated. Exaggerated, huh? 14 billion pounds of trash in the environment very well could be an inflated number (even though it's not) and it could even be inflated by a factor of 10 (which would be a pretty significant error). And even if it was exaggerated, that still means 1.4 billion pounds of trash. Which is most certainly a safe and healthy level of plastic.*

*Sarcastic. This statement is true only if you are in a frisbee factory and are, in fact, a frisbee.