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The article offers information on the city of San Francisco, California banning the use of non-biodegradable plastic bags by supermarkets, drug stores and retail stores. according to Environmental Protection Agency, the production of paper bags creates more air and water pollution as compared to plastic bags. It was also found that fewer plastic bags have been recycled in comparison with paper bags. It is estimated that annual global usage of plastic bags ranges from about 100 billion to 1 trillion.

Three years ago, San Francisco was the first city in the country to ban the ubiquitous plastic shopping bag, but it was quickly followed by Palo Alto and Oakland. These cities, and the Bay Area generally, were at the forefront of the movement to keep single-use, filmy carry-out bags out of landfills, out of the bay and out of the innards of marine mammals. But now cities are reconsidering, in part because of lawsuits filed by opponents, but also because too many shoppers in San Francisco and Palo Alto simply shifted their carry-out purchases to paper sacks, which have environmental costs of their own. Plastic bags are still a target, but the bulls-eye is now widening to cover paper bags, too. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In San Francisco, a city that has banned plastic shopping bags, there is a new target: paper. Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi introduced legislation intended to encourage customers to use their own bags to reduce the number of bags provided at checkout. The ordinance, if passed, would require retailers to offer a 10-cent rebate to customers who use reusable sacks. If the stores fail to comply, they could face fines of $100 to $500. Mr. Mirkarimi said the legislation would help save a chunk of the 14 million trees chopped down each year to make paper bags. The ordinance would affect some 135 large grocery stores and pharmacies within city limits. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

In 2007, Mayor Gavin Newsom of San Francisco banned the use of city money to buy bottled water for municipal employees. For the mayor, it was a point of principle: the local tap water, direct from Yosemite National Park, is among the best anywhere, and in a town where even plastic bags are regulated, water delivered in plastic dispensers appeared to be an unseemly use of resources. Nearly every city department and agency duly kicked the habit, with one exception: the San Francisco Board of Supervisors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

LAST year, San Francisco banned nonbiodegradable plastic bags in its large grocery stores and pharmacies. Soon, Oakland and Los Angeles followed. Now, Westport has joined their ranks, becoming the only town in Connecticut to ban most plastic shopping bags. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article reports that the Board of Supervisors in San Francisco, California voted in favor of an ordinance that will ban non-biodegradable plastic bags in grocery stores and pharmacies in the city. City supervisor Ross Mirkarimi said that the ordinance will move standard plastic bags from supermarkets and pharmacies with annual sales of over $2 million. Another city supervisor Ed Jew, who cast the only vote against the ordinance, said that he feared the cost of degradable bags.