PORTLAND, Ore. — Oregon’s statewide ban on single-use plastic shopping bags is now in effect.
If you forget a reusable bag, stores will charge you five cents for each paper bag. Low income shoppers on state assistance can still get the paper bags for free.
Shoppers in Portland are used to the ban. The city outlawed the bags more than eight years ago.
But before Jan. 1, you could always get paper bags for free. No more.
From now on paper bags will cost a nickel each in Portland and everywhere else in Oregon.
It’s an attempt to get shoppers to use multi-use bags, which many of us have but often forget.
The reasoning behind the new push is to eliminate the cheap plastic bags in Oregon in the hope of keeping them out of the landfills and the environment.
The charge is to help cover the cost of the paper bags for the retailer.