San Francisco bans traditional plastic grocery bags
Ban expected to reduce carbon dioxide emissions by 4.2 million kilograms annually
Last Updated: Wednesday, March 28, 2007 | 12:32 PM ET
CBC News
Related
San Francisco has become the first city in North America to ban the use of traditional plastic grocery bags, a step that municipal leaders hope will spread across the country.
Passed Tuesday by the city's board of supervisors, the law prohibits large grocery stores and drugstores from using non-recyclable and non-biodegradable plastic bags made from petroleum products.
Supermarkets will have six months to comply while drugstores will have up to one year.
The city legislator who introduced the bill, Ross Mirkarimi, said that up to 200 million plastic bags are used each year in the city of roughly 740,000 people.
It's estimated a traditional plastic bag takes 1,000 years to dissolve.
"The first order of conservation is reduction and what we want to do is reduce the non-recyclable plastic bag," Mirkarimi said.
"Many [foreign] cities and nations have already implemented very similar legislation. It's astounding that San Francisco would be the first U.S. city to follow suit," he said.
Will reduce carbon dioxide output
Jared Blumenfeld, the head of the city's environment department, said there would be many benefits.
By cutting 100 million plastic bags a year the city will save 1.5 million litres of oil, and eliminate 4.2 million kilograms of carbon dioxide, Blumenfeld said.
Blumenfeld said he hopes other cities will follow in San Francisco's footsteps.
"We certainly hope that it will proliferate throughout the United States, certainly at least throughout the state of California," he said.
Canadian town to ban bags
On April 2, the tiny town of Leaf Rapids in northwestern Manitoba is set to become the first Canadian community to ban plastic bags.
The bylaw prevents retailers from selling or distributing the single-use bags. Ignoring the ban could result in a $1,000-per-day fine.
Officials will hand out cloth shopping bags to each of the town's roughly 550 residents before the ban comes into effect on April 2.
The B.C. mountain town of Rossland is also considering a voluntary ban on single-use plastic bags.
With files from the Associated PressShare Tools
Top News Headlines
- Quebec man charged with killing mother, 2 nieces
- A 35-year-old man has been charged with three counts of first-degree murder in connection with the deaths of his mother and two young nieces in Quebec's Eastern Townships. more »
- Manitoba trailer fire kills 4
- Four people are dead after an early-morning fire quickly engulfed a residential trailer in Selkirk, Man. more »
- Harper's China visit ends with panda pact
- Prime Minister Stephen Harper wrapped up a visit to China aimed seeking new investments by officially announcing that Beijing will loan two of the country's prized giant pandas to Canadian zoos. more »
- Attawapiskat sites not ready for modular homes
- The first two of 22 modular homes promised by the federal government to Attawapiskat are on their way to the remote northern Ontario community, but the minister handling the Aboriginal Affairs portfolio is expressing concern over the "readiness" of the lots. more »
Latest Technology & Science News Headlines
- Ancient Antarctic lake may harbour microbial life
- If scientists find microbes in a frigid lake 3.2 kilometres beneath the thick ice of Antarctica, it will illustrate once again that somehow life finds a way to survive in the strangest and harshest places, and it will offer hope that life exists beyond Earth. more »
- B.C. killer whale habitat protection ruled a legal duty
- The federal minister of fisheries has no discretion when it comes to protecting the critical habitat of B.C.'s southern resident killer whales, the Federal Court of Appeal has ruled. more »
- Game developer seeks $400K, makes $1M in a day
- Videogame studio Double Fine went on the website Kickstarter to raise $400K US in a month to develop a new game. They reached that target in a matter of hours. more »
- McGill asbestos study review criticized
- A group of anti-asbestos activists and scientists are criticizing McGill University's plans for an internal review of a major asbestos research study that has been called into question. more »
Bob McDonald's Blog
Glacier Discovery Walk: Will the visitor centre enhance the view? Feb. 10, 2012 3:17 PM Environment minister Peter Kent has announced the construction of a new Glacier Discovery Walk and visitor centre on the Icefields Parkway in Jasper National Park. It raises the issue of how to balance commercial development in our National Parks against the preservation of the last refuges of wilderness.
Quirks & Quarks
- February 11: Inside the Mind of a Neandertal Feb. 10, 2012 4:01 PM Can we get inside the mind of a species that's been dead for 30,000 years? A new book, How to Think Like a Neanderthal, suggests we can. The authors reconstruct a creature like us in many ways, but with important differences.
Latest Features
- Pop singer Whitney Houston dies at 48
- Quebec man charged with killing mother, 2 nieces
- Harper's China visit ends with panda pact
- Weed Man's sales tactics draw fire from consumer ministry
- Attawapiskat sites not ready for modular homes
- Manitoba trailer fire kills 4
- Emailed rave rape pictures earn teen probation
- RCMP shooting suspect hoped to surrender before arrest
- Bus rolls near Redwater, Alberta, injuring dozens
