• Recycling Advocates 2008 Annual Meeting Wrap-up

RA holds lively public forum on single use bag policy

Watch the entire presentation by clicking below

 or view it full screen on Blip.TV here

"From the size of the crowd here tonight, it seems that Oregon is indeed ready .... to eliminate the ultimate symbol of American consumption: the ubiquitous, free check out bag." (Katy Daily)

More than 150 people packed into Portland City Council chambers on September 22 to attend RA's annual meeting and public forum (Solving the Plastic Bag Dilemma: Is Oregon Ready?). The five noted panelists (see sidebar) reviewed the environmental costs associated with the massive use of paper and plastic check-out bags as well as various policy solutions and business perspectives. The two-hour forum featured short presentations and dozens of comments and suggestions from the lively and involved audience.

The first two speakers (Daily and Allaway) defined our usage rates (more than one bag per person per day, on average) and compared the relative environmental impacts of paper versus plastic. In short, paper bag production requires more energy and emits more greenhouse gases, while plastic bags wreck havoc on recycling sorting machines and marine life. Commissioner and Mayor-Elect Sam Adams directed the forum's focus to his draft reusable bag strategy and answered numerous questions from the audience as to the particulars. He has proposed a 20-cent user fee on the use of single-use paper and plastic bags. A full copy of his draft proposal can be found at www.commissionersam.com

While the Oregonian reported the next day that the speakers were preaching to the choir, there was actually a healthy debate about whether Adams' proposal should focus on plastic bags alone or be directed at both paper and plastic bags. Brian Rohter of New Seasons and others voiced their opinion that plastic bags are the biggest problem and that they should be banned outright. (Tom Watson of King County tried to stir things up by pointing out that this approach is advantageous for Rohter, since his company already only offers paper bags to shoppers. Rohter pointed to New Seasons’ success at encouraging re-usable bags.) DEQ's David Allaway posited that "Less is Best" and cautioned against policies that merely shift the problem from one product or environmental resource to another.

The gavel-happy Tom Watson advised Portlanders to figure out how to deal with the plastics industry. He reviewed the American Chemistry Council’s handsomely funded referendum effort, successfully suspending the implementation of Seattle's new policy until the voters weigh in next summer. (In July the Seattle City council passed a policy placing a 20-cent fee on single-use check-out bags.)

It appears as if Commissioner Adams is heeding Watson's advice. His stated goal is to reduce bag use in a way that is good for the environment, business, and the consumer. He reviewed how his office has been working to incrementally develop support for his proposal, meeting with many key players and encouraging their input. In his presentation he continually stressed his flexibility as to how the final single-use bag policy and program should take shape. "We have to come up with something that Portlanders can get behind,” Adams said. “Portlanders have shown that when you rally them to a cause, they will come. But we have to educate them."

As RA members, your role can be as simple as remembering to bring your reusable bag to the store. As a group, we will track this policy’s path and encourage an emphasis on waste reduction.

• Oregon Legislature 2007 Wrap-up: It's been a good year!

On June 28 the 2007 legislative session came to a close, one day ahead of schedule. Papers throughout the state declared "The Environment" as one of the biggest "winners" of the session. Even seasoned lobbyists are making bold statements about the success of the session. "It is a landmark session for the environmentalists," said Dave Barrows, who has been a lobbyist for numerous business interests for 48 years. "They have had a very lengthy list of successes ... this is almost exceeding the Tom McCall years."

Throughout this session we brought you the updates on the two big wins for Recycling Advocates: creation of the Electronic Waste Recycling program and expansion of Oregon’s Bottle Bill. Passage of these two bills brings Oregon back to the forefront as a recycling leader throughout the nation and defines 2007 as the "year of recycling" for Oregon.

But recycling issues were just a piece of a much more comprehensive approach to our responsibility to creating a healthy environment for future generations of Oregonians. This approach included taking responsibility to combat global warming, a desire for energy independence and a strong wish to protect our families from toxic pollution in our air and water. Here is a quick summary of the important highlights as result of a highly successful session.

Promoting Clean and Renewable Energy and addressing Global Warming

This session we made huge advances in combating global warming and taking steps for a sustainable energy future. The hallmark of this effort was the establishment of the Renewable Energy Standard, which requires utilities to generate 25% of our electricity from new renewable sources by 2025. We also passed bills that established minimum efficiency standards for a number of additional home and commercial appliances and expanded the business and residential energy tax credits available for renewable energy investments. In addition, the State will now lead by example by providing that public improvement contracts for construction or major renovations of public buildings appropriate at least 1.5% of the total contract price for solar energy technology.

We also passed legislation that set pollution reduction goals and established the Oregon Global Warming Commission to coordinate global warming work across state agencies.

Reducing Toxics in Oregon Waterways

One of the more ambitious goals of the session was to take steps to reduce toxics in Oregon waterways. Through the hard work of a diverse coalition of environmental groups, municipalities and business associations we were able to pass a bill that provides Oregon with a first ever "roadmap" for reducing and eliminating sources of toxic pollution in our rivers, streams and the Pacific Ocean. On a smaller scale, we passed a bill that requires dentists to have an amalgam separator installed in any wastewater drain if materials containing mercury pass through the drain.

Measure 37 Reform

Probably the biggest goal of this legislative session was to fix many of the substantive problems with Measure 37. The legislature sent to the voters a package of reforms (Ballot Measure 49) which will limit development allowed on Oregon’s forest and farmland, will stop new commercial and industrial development prohibited by zoning laws and will stop the development rush that is threatening Oregon’s landscape. Voters will have an opportunity to finish the job by voting Yes on Measure 49 this November.

The passage of these and other bills helped to establish a new era in Oregon politics, one that will take responsibility for leaving a legacy for future Oregonians. We look forward to working with future legislatures to improve Oregon’s position as recycling and stewardship leader.

• Recycling Advocates Annual Membership Meeting wrap-up

The annual meeting of the Recycling Advocates’ membership was held at Free Geek on August 20. About 25 members and guests attended to hear President Betty Patton give a state of the Advocates report, introduce three new candidates for the board, and present the program of the evening.
The members re-elected board members Katy Daily, Wayne Rifer, and Rob Guttridge. Newly elected to full terms were Johnny Leuthold, Lindsey Newkirk and Tanya Schaefer. Tanya has previously served on the board and as the resource person for the Advocates. The members also made a change and elected as co-Presidents, Katy Daily and Rhett Lawrence, Vice President Rob Guttridge; Secretary, Betty Patton; and Treasurer, Rick Paul.
After the formal board meeting, Katy introduced Representatives Vicki Berger (R- Salem) and Jackie Dingfelder (D- Portland). These two Representatives were key figures in the passage of the 2007 legislation on the Bottle Bill and electronic waste. Rep. Dingfelder did inform the group that she was giving up her seat in the House and will be running for the Senate seat in her district. Both Representatives talked about the inside work done to pass the two pieces of legislation, stressing that it was a bipartisan effort to pass this legislation. As Rep. Berger said, "the stars just lined up" for these pieces of legislation.
The meeting adjourned at 9:00 pm for social time among the members.