Corvallis (KMTR) - Corvallis waved goodbye to the plastic bag monster today as the city went officially plastic-bag free. The initiative began about 10 months ago when local environmental activists put fourth an ordinance for the ban. The city council put a lot of thought into the ban, meeting for more than 6 months with different stakeholders. Environment Oregon rep Sarah Higginbotham said, "Corvallis is the first city in the state of Oregon to include a pass-thru cost fee on paper bags. So that will actually, instead of just banning single-use plastic bags, and moving people right to paper bags, this will move people, most effectively, to reusable bags."
It will now cost shoppers 5-8 cents for each paper bag. Higginbotham says similar pass-thru fees in other states have been a very successful incentive to get shoppers to use reusable bags, and the fee will also help retailers pay for the shift.
The ban is officially in place, but large grocery stores have six months to make the change. Smaller local stores have one year.
