Oregon Live - Oregon lawmakers vote to ban Styrofoam food containers
Written by Julia Shumway, 4/27/23
“A pair of bills aimed at reducing the number of takeout containers thrown away in Oregon are headed to Gov. Tina Kotek.
The state House on Wednesday passed Senate Bill 543, which would ban Styrofoam and other polystyrene takeout containers, on a 40-18 vote. A few minutes later, Senate Bill 545, directing the Oregon Health Authority to craft rules for how customers can bring reusable containers for takeout or leftovers to restaurants, passed on a 39-17 vote.
Rep. Maxine Dexter, a Portland Democrat and supporter of the bills, described how she spent Saturday cleaning up litter as part of an Earth Day event.
‘Whether along a river, a highway or our beautiful beaches, single-use plastics are the predominant waste we clean up,’ Dexter said. ‘It’s everywhere, it’s ugly and it’s doing harm.’
The two new bills build on other recent laws intended to reduce plastic waste. Since Jan. 1, 2020, stores and restaurants have been barred from providing single-use plastic bags, instead providing paper bags or thicker reusable plastic bags at a cost of at least 5 cents per bag to customers who didn’t bring their own. A 2019 law forbade restaurants from handing out single-use plastic straws unless a customer requested one.”
