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Green Packaging Working Group

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.

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