Portlanders should get ready to ditch their drinking straws -- the plastic ones, at least.

Citing the effects on animals and the environment from millions of tons of plastic waste, the Portland City Council is poised to pass a resolution Wednesday restricting use of plastic straws and other single-use plastics.

The resolution directs the city Bureau of Planning and Sustainability to by October 1 devise a plan to cut down on use of the straws and other non-recyclable plastics that are used once and thrown out. It cites statistics and studies showing the harm on the environment, and particularly marine habitats, from plastic waste. Plastic straws are one of the most common forms of waste, it said, and cannot be recycled.

An outright straw-ban is not mentioned in the resolution.

If the Portland City Council adopts the resolution, the city will join Seattle, San Francisco, Berkeley, Boulder and Vancouver, British Columbia as other big -- and liberal-leaning -- cities to move away from use of plastic straws.

-- Gordon R. Friedman

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