Portland to consider plastic bag fee

Portland shoppers may have to pay 5 cents for disposable plastic or paper bags in the future if a proposal gets approved by the City Council next month.

The Portland Press Herald reported the proposal was endorsed by the city’s Transportation, Sustainability and Energy Committee in a 3-1 vote Wednesday night. The endorsement came after the committee agreed to lower the proposed fee from 10 to 5 cents.

Under the proposal, the fee would apply to stores that generate at least 2% of its gross sales from food products, but it would not apply to farmers markets, restaurants and dry cleaners.

If Portland adopted the fee, it would join dozens of communities across the country that have instituted similar fees or outright bans of plastic bags to encourage adoption of reusable bags.

The Maine Grocers and Food Producers Association has opposed the bag fee, saying it would ultimately serve as a tax on the customers. The Portland Regional Chamber of Commerce has also opposed the measure, but said the fact that the proposal would allow retailers to keep the fee revenue could ease some concerns.

However, Chris O’Neil, representing the Portland chamber, said his group is worried the proposal and others —including ones that would raise the city’s minimum wage and ban plastic foam or polystyrene containers — could make Portland an “outlier” among other communities.

“The potential cumulative effect of policies that range from maverick to radical is cause for concern in the business community,” he said, according to the Portland Press Herald.