The Oregon Senate approved Senate Bill 551, a measure that expands prior limits on plastic bags and restricts disposal items handed to consumers by restaurants and retailers.

Senator Solman, presenting the bill, said SB 551 would require restaurants and retailers to provide paper bags at checkout instead of thicker plastic bags, limit plastic cutlery and condiment packets to request-only, and phase out single-use hotel toiletry bottles in favor of larger refillable dispensers. "This is not a ban on all plastic, but a mere drop in the plastic deluge of products we encounter every day," Solman said, arguing the bill would reduce waste and save businesses money.

Senator Brock Smith and other supporters framed the bill as a response to plastic pollution on Oregon beaches and rivers and noted pulp-and-paper industry backing as a local economic benefit. "We have serious problems with plastics that run on that come under our beaches," Brock Smith said, urging support on environmental and economic grounds.

Opponents, including Senator Robinson, raised concerns about convenience, unintended increases in some plastic use after prior bag-fee changes, and questioned whether the legislation would impose on businesses’ choices. "Restaurants, grocery stores, hotels, they should have the right to use the materials that they think are best for their customers," Robinson said.

After extended debate with several senators speaking for and against the policy, the clerk declared the measure had received the constitutional majority and SB 551 A was declared passed.

The transcript records floor statements on environmental impacts, convenience trade-offs, and local industry effects. The bill’s text as discussed would: require paper bags at checkout where bags are provided, limit plastic cutlery and condiment packets to request-only, and phase out single-use hotel trial-size toiletry bottles in favor of larger refillable dispensers.

The transcript records final passage but does not include a complete roll-call tally in the provided excerpt; the clerk declared the bill passed.