At the start of 2020, Portland’s single-use plastic ban took effect, leaving both companies and consumers to come up with alternatives. It’s not just plastic bags that we have to worry about, but other single-use items found in restaurants like straws, sauce packets, and plasticware. I work in the food industry and have seen mixed emotions from guests. Before I dive any deeper, though, I must preface this by saying that these opinions are my own, they and do not reflect my employers or the company I work for. Legalities aside, here’s why this plastic ban really isn’t a big deal.
I know that most people like plastic bags for the sake of convenience. They’re small, complimentary, and, of course, they make carrying several items easier. After time, though, they will accumulate in your house. You pile them all together to keep them out of the way, until eventually, you become tired of dealing with it and just toss them in the trash. Reusable bags might be a pain at first; you’ll forget to take them with you and have to pay for single-use bags. However, they won’t collect into a mountain for you to keep putting off. Just buy a few, and keep reusing and reusing them. In the long run, they become much more convenient, and if more states get in on this, the amount of plastic finding its way into natural ecosystems (and poisoning wildlife) should drastically reduce.
Reusable bags are probably the easiest compromise in a society that runs on plastic. The harder part is getting guests to accept the changes coming to restaurants. I’m employed at Burgerville,; a company that proudly uses local and sustainable products. While we began making these changes before the year started, we still get plenty of confused and angry reactions.