There’s good news for Portland residents who still have a stockpile of city-issued blue trash bags.

The City Council on Wednesday approved a “blue bag amnesty” program, allowing residents to continue using those bags until they are gone.

As part of its budget, the City Council increased the price of trash bags from $10 to $13.50 per bundle, and switched from blue bags to purple bags.

The city originally imposed a deadline of Oct. 4 for residents either to use up all their remaining blue bags, or exchange them for purple ones – and pay the difference. The deadline was originally set to prevent residents from stocking up on blue bags to avoid paying the higher fee.

But the council voted 5-4 to reverse course, allowing residents to use the blue bags indefinitely.

“I think we largely avoided hoarding,” said City Councilor Jon Hinck. “I think it’s better to let people use the blue bags they have. That’s why we call it a blue bag amnesty.”

Councilor David Brenerman opposed the amnesty program, noting that the city budget relies on the additional $517,000 in revenue.

“There has to be an end point to the use of the blue bags and it seems to me we have given enough notice,” Brenerman said. “Our budget is dependent on the increase in the bags, so I think people who have traded in their bags for the purple bags would be concerned.”

Public Services Director Michael Bobinski said it’s difficult tell how many blue bags are still in circulation, but roughly 2,000 blue bags have been returned by residents, who have paid the additional costs, resulting in $700 to $1,000 in additional revenue for the city.

Bobinski said that city still has “a relatively large number” of blue bags remaining. There are about 735 cases remaining of 30-gallon bags and 489 remaining cases of 15-gallon bags, he said.

At 125 bags and 250 bags per case, respectively, that means the city still has roughly 214,000 extra blue bags on hand.

City Manager Jon Jennings said the city is deliberating about what to do with the surplus bags. He said they could be sold to residents at the same price as the purple bags. The city is also in talks with other communities that have similar pay-as-you-throw systems, he said.

“Everything is under consideration but we certainly do not intend to throw these away,” Jennings told councilors.

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