Today the Oregon Senate passed Senate Bill 551, which would eliminate all plastic film bags at checkout in restaurants, grocery stores and other retail establishments in Oregon, with a final concurrence vote of 22-8. Dubbed the Beyond the Bag Ban campaign by Surfrider and our coalition partners, the bill originally included provisions to also address single-use plastic toiletries at lodging establishments and add utensils and condiments to Oregon's existing straws upon request law, but those provisions were removed in the Oregon House. The bill now heads to Governor Kotek for signature — read our coalition press release here.
Chief sponsor Senator Janeen Sollman and advocates, pictured above, celebrated the passage of Senate Bill 551 as an important step forward in reducing plastic pollution, and expressed their commitment to pushing additional common sense plastic reduction policies in the future:
"Wasteful disposable plastics like thick plastic checkout bags aren’t just annoying for consumers, they add unnecessary costs to our Oregon businesses, and are contributing to an ever increasing pile of plastic trash that is harming the environment and public health," said Oregon Senator Janeen Sollman (SD-15). "Senate Bill 551 is an important step in addressing a large source of plastic pollution, and I'm proud to send it to the governor's desk."
Photo by George Gregorio
The thicker 'reusable' plastic bags, such as the pictured above, were becoming more and more ubiquitous as a loophole to the 2019 ban. SB 551 effectively closes this plastic checkout bag loophole.
Environmental advocates and businesses alike were confused 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. But, the most substantive part of this bill — saying goodbye to those thicker plastic checkout bags– was enthusiastically supported with bipartisan votes in both the House and the Senate, more on that here.
Surfrider volunteers and advocates have been organizing and advocating to improve upon Oregon's single-use plastic laws for nearly 20 years now. Beyond our policy work, our volunteers and chapters in Oregon dedicate much of their time an energy in stewarding through beach cleanups and green streets programming. At the business level, they are active in partnering with restaurants and lodging establishments alike to reduce single use plastics voluntarily through our Ocean Friendly Program efforts. As more and more of our policy interests faces the production end of plastics, we continue to chip away at consumer and business opportunities that make good sense. SB 551 is one of those policies that takes some simple direction at the business level that is a win-win for businesses and the environment!