Green Packaging Working Group

Agendas & Minutes


Agendas are available prior to the meetings. Minutes are available following approval.
Most Recent Agenda | View All Agendas and Minutes

Members

  • Ed Suslovic, Chair; Portland City Council
  • Ron Adams, Portland Public Schools
  • Danny Bouzianis, Dunkin Donuts
  • Michele Brooks, Portland Citizen
  • Ryan Elizabeth Cope
  • Avery Day, American Chemistry Council
  • Shelley Doak, Maine Grocers Association
  • Matthew Faulkner, Surfrider Maine
  • Alexandra Fields, Environment Maine
  • Martin Fischer, Dart Corporation 
  • Richard Grotton, Maine Restaurant Association
  • Patricia Ianni
  • Tyler Kidder, University of Southern Maine
  • Ted Koffman, Maine Audubon Society
  • John Morin, Ecomaine
  • Troy Moon, Staff Assistant Portland Public Services
  • Richard Petrone, Huhtamaki
  • Curtis Picard, Retail Association of Maine
  • Jamie Py
  • Cathy Ramsdell, Friends of Casco Bay
  • Stephen Ryan
  • Sally Trice, Portland Citizen

About the Work Group


Plastic packaging is one of the most common forms of litter in the City of Portland.

Polystyrene is a product commonly used in various forms of packaging and has been identified as a chemical that poses serious environmental and public health risks. The National Institute of Health lists it as a substance reasonably anticipated to be a human carcinogen. The risk increases when it is used to store hot foods or liquids.

Recycling polystyrene is expensive, so it often ends up in landfills, where it is easily blown out and into the environment, posing a danger to animals that consume it.

Plastic grocery bags take about 20 years to biodegrade, and in that process contaminate the soil and waterways.

For these reasons, the Portland City Council has formed the Green Packaging Working Group to investigate the possibility of reducing or eliminating the use of plastic packaging in the city. The first meeting was held April 8, 2013.