The Metro Council voted unanimously Thursday to endorse efforts in the Oregon Legislature to ban plastic grocery bags statewide.
Saying the bags foul machinery in recycling centers and cause harm to natural areas, speakers at Thursday's Metro Council meeting said education alone isn't helping eliminate the bags, which don't biodegrade.
"Material recovery facilities approximately spend 25 to 30 percent of labor costs removing bags from machinery," said Nastassja Pace, the head of the Portland Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation, speaking in support of Metro's resolution.
The agency didn't ban plastic bags in Metro's jurisdiction. Instead, the resolution, brought forth by councilors Rex Burkholder and Shirley Craddick, merely formalized Metro's support for statewide legislation eliminating single-use plastic bags at retail checkout.
Fruit and veggie bags at the produce section, take-out bags from restaurants and other pre-checkout bags wouldn't be impacted by such a ban.
Councilor Carlotta Collette said she'd seen many plastic bags floating down Johnson Creek, which flows just north of her Milwaukie home.
"In the past, it was absolutely shocking to me – when the creek would flood… it was like 'Throw Your Garbage in Johnson Creek Day,'" she said.
She also recalled a trip to the Columbia Ridge landfill near Arlington, where efforts are made to keep bags from blowing off the property and across the hills of Gilliam County.
"They have these massive fences in order to keep those plastic bags," she said. "One of the fences had just been blown down because the plastics had filled this fence."
Council acknowledges BCS game
Councilor Kathryn Harrington, who spent some of her childhood in Alabama and whose brother is an Auburn University alumnus, brought a little bit of the excitement around the Bowl Championship Series title game to the end of Thursday's council meeting.
Harrington brought forward a resolution – No. 11-AUvsUO – declaring Monday's game to be a matter of regional significance.
Some of the whereas clauses in the resolution included:
- Some believe that of the two teams, the Auburn Tiger football team is known to be the faster, bigger, and stronger football team of the match; and
- Tigers are known to consume Ducks as appetizers; and
- From time to time it is necessary to acknowledge the spirit of completion and partake in good clean fun;
Two Metro councilors – Robert Liberty and President Tom Hughes – attended UO. Hughes and Councilor Shirley Craddick have children who have graduated from the university.
Liberty, who will be resigning from the Metro Council Jan. 15 to take a job at the university, added a friendly amendment to Harrington's resolution. It declared Auburn University to be a great place – and UO's Eugene campus to be the greatest place.
The resolution passed 7-0.
Hosticka now deputy president
Councilor Carl Hosticka will serve as deputy council president in 2011, chairing meetings when Council President Tom Hughes is away.
Hosticka, a former Oregon House Majority Leader and a professor of public policy at the University of Oregon, represents southern Washington County and western Clackamas County on the council.
Councilor Carlotta Collette was the prior deputy president, and served as interim president after Council President David Bragdon resigned in September. Collette was appointed Council President for the final two months of 2010, and the deputy position was vacant.
Title 11 next week
Affordable housing provisions from Title 11 are set for discussion at the Jan. 13 Metro Council meeting. The changes to Title 11 were scrapped from December's Capacity Ordinance, allowing more time for comment on the planning rules.
The Metro Policy Advisory Committee will discuss the changes at its Jan. 12 meeting, one day after MPAC's housing subcommittee talks about the proposed new affordable housing provisions.