Portland City Commissioner Sam Adams wants to know if area residents would like to ban non-biodegradable plastic shopping bags in the city.

With more than a billion plastic bags given away daily, some experts said that plastic bags are one of the biggest sources of litter. They said empty bags often wash into waterways and sewage systems and they don’t readily biodegrade in landfills. They also require great amounts of energy to produce and recycle.

The other options are all-paper bags, a biodegradable plastic or reusable bags.

“Like a lot of plastic being in the waters and the environment alone makes more of a mess,” said shopper Vinnie White. “Especially when paper can be recycled, you know, it sounds like a better idea.”

“I don't want to eliminate them totally. I like the plastic bags. They're more convenient to carry than the paper, and besides I recycle them, anyway,” said Chris Neely, another shopper.

This week, San Francisco supervisors voted to ban non-biodegradable plastic bags.

For more information or to share your thoughts, visit http://www.commissionersam.com/node/2336.