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Story Published: Jul 25, 2008 at 11:42 AM PDT PORTLAND, Ore. (AP) - City Commissioner Sam Adams is pushing a plan to impose a fee on grocery bags. Paper or plastic. Adams, who hopes to have the fee in place before he takes over as mayor next year, said he has yet to decide how much to charge. But he's discussing that the City Council vote for a fee ranging anywhere from a nickel to 20 cents per bag. "It's a simple behavioral change that we have to ingrain in ourselves," Adams said. Only 52 percent of paper bags and 5 percent of plastic grocery bags given out in the United States are recycled, said Stephanie Barger, executive director of the Earth Resources Foundation in Costa Mesa, Calif. And if even people do a better job of recycling, both types present environmental problems. Plastic bags are made from oil and don't... [read full story]
