San Francisco Plastic Grocery Bag Ban

San Francisco's grocery store ban, passed in March of 2007, is set to go into affect (6 months after passage) shortly. The ban applies to large grocery stores, with annual gross sales of $2 million or more, and pharmacies with 5 or more city locations.

San Francisco currently uses an estimated 180 million plastic grocery bags per year, but only recycles about 1% of these bags. Plastic grocery bags create pollution, litter streets, beaches, trees and waterways. Past attempts to capture and recycle the plastic bags have proved to be innefective. 

Other major U.S. cities are following in San Francisco's lead and are investigating their own plastic grocery bag bans. Boston, Portland and Baltimore are considering similar bans.