South Portland leaders are considering joining Portland in banning or charging fees for certain containers.

The city of South Portland is likely to pass new ordinances that mirror those adopted by Portland last year, which charge a 5-cent fee for the use of plastic bags and ban Styrofoam food containers.

At a workshop Monday the four city councilors present all pledged their support for making plastic bag use more difficult by charging a fee and for banning the use of Styrofoam for both prepared and packaged foods.

Although the city’s sustainability coordinator sent out 400 letters to merchants within the city, no one turned out at the meeting to protest either proposal. A small number of residents who spoke during the workshop supported adopting plastic bag and Styrofoam ordinances like those in Portland.

By adopting ordinances like Portland’s, the city would provide a level playing field and would allow merchants and consumers to better understand what’s expected from community to community, according to South Portland City Manager Jim Gailey.

In his position paper to the council, Gailey added that South Portland is interested in limiting the use of plastic bags because of the “significant environmental impacts,” including the “littering of our waterways and open spaces.”

Councilor Brad Fox, who was absent, was the one who initially brought the issue forward and said prior to Monday’s meeting that he hoped a consensus could be reached.

Those present Monday – councilors Maxine Beecher, Tom Blake, Claude Morgan and Mayor Linda Cohen – all wanted to move forward with a plastic bag ordinance, so it likely will appear on an upcoming agenda for a vote.

When it was the council’s turn to deliberate, Beecher said she knows a number of people in Portland and she’s not heard “a lot of whining or complaining” about the ordinance there.

“It’s time, not just in terms of sustainability, but for the environment, too,” she said.

“I support this entirely,” said Morgan, adding that “this could happen tomorrow without too much fuss.”

He said that charging 5 cents for a plastic bag is similar to Maine’s bottle redemption law.

He also believes that limiting the use of plastic bags is “such a perfect fit for our community. This is the way we are going.”

Morgan also said, “I think it’s good to match our ordinance with Portland’s. We are sistered with the city across the river.”

As he’s done before, Blake argued that laws limiting plastic bag use should be done on a state or federal level, but that such initiatives are falling to local communities to implement instead.

Blake said he’s heard “virtually no opposition” to South Portland moving toward adopting an ordinance that would charge a fee for plastic bags.

The four councilors also supported implementing a ban on the use of Styrofoam food containers, which both Portland and the town of Freeport have also done in recent years.

In both cases, Beecher said, public education and outreach would be key to implementation.