New restrictions on single-use plastic could be coming to retail stores, restaurants and hotels after the Oregon Senate voted Tuesday in favor of Senate Bill 551, sending the legislation to the House for consideration.
If signed into law, restaurants could provide plastic utensils and condiments in plastic packaging only on request. The same would apply to single-use shampoos and other personal products at hotels.
Legislators banned single-use plastic bags at stores and restaurants in 2019 but allowed for thicker plastic bags. SB551 would ban those, too.
A customer uses plastic bags at the Fred Meyer on Commercial St. SE in Salem.
Sen. Janeen Sollman, D-Hillsboro, Rep. Courtney Neron, D-Wilsonville, and Rep. Tom Andersen, D-Salem, are chief sponsors of the bill.
“Freeing Oregon from those thick plastic bags is a win for the environment and for business,” Sollman said.
Sollman said the bill would save businesses money on bags and products, such as plastic utensils, which may be given out but not used by the customer.
Only about 9% of plastic nationally is recycled, Celeste Meiffren-Swango, director for Environment Oregon, told the Senate Committee on Energy and Environment in January. Sollman is the committee’s chair.
“We have serious problems with plastics that run onto our beaches,” said vice-chair of the committee, Sen. David Brock Smith, R-Port Orford.
He and Sen. Todd Nash, R-Enterprise, said the bill would help the timber industry by increasing demand for paper bags.
Sen. Noah Robinson, R-Cave Junction, spoke against the bill, saying, “I love plastic.” He said the ban is a “freedom issue” and would inconvenience consumers.
Robinson was one of eight no votes on the bill, all Republican.
When would the changes start?
Single-use condiments and cutlery would be available only upon request beginning July 1, 2026.
Thicker plastic bags would be banned at stores and restaurants as of Jan. 1, 2027. The ban’s start date was pushed back after grocers expressed concerns about impacts on paper bag supply due to a similar bill set to go into effect in California in 2026.
Hotels with 50 or more rooms could provide single-use toiletries only on request after Jan. 1, 2027. The requirement would apply to lodging with one or more rooms beginning Jan. 1, 2028.
Anastasia Mason covers state government for the Statesman Journal. Reach her at [email protected] or 971-208-5615.
This article originally appeared on Salem Statesman Journal: Plastic bag ban moves to Oregon House of Representatives
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