Portland City Council Restricts Use Of Plastic Straws, Utensils

PORTLAND, OR – It just got a bit harder to get a plastic straw or plastic utensils. The Portland City Council unanimously passed an ordinance restricting their availability in the city.

If you want one, you'll have to ask for it.

"This is a great step in the right direction in reducing plastic waste in Portland!," Mayor Ted Wheeler said after the vote.

Get all the latest information on what's happening in your community by signing up for Patch's newsletters and breaking news alerts

The same would be true of those little packets of ketchup, mustard, and mayo.

The ordinance was drafted by the city's Bureau of Planning and Sustainability after being directed to do so by the council.

The original plan was an outright ban on the single-use plastic straws but after officials met with disability advocates who pointed out there are many people with disabilities who rely on straws to be able to drink, the plan was changed.

"This policy is not mean to be a 'silver bullet' solution," the mayor's communications director, Eileen Park, said. "We will build off of the reduction goals we've set in this first policy. Straws are a great place to start, because the social movement around them mirrors the pressure that mounted around the ban on plastic bags.

"There's a lot of work to do beyond them."

Portland has a history of using legislation to restrict the use of certain products deemed dangerous to the environment.

Seven years ago it banned the use of single-use plastic bags that you used to get at the supermarket and in restaurants.

In 1990, the city passed restrictions on what everyone calls "Styrofoam" cups and containers. In truth, Styrofoam is a trademark belonging to Dow Chemical for a material that is often used as insulation.

The city restricted the use of polystyrene.

The ordinance will go into effect on July 1, 2019.

Photo via Shutterstock.