San Francisco's Plastic Bag Ban Expands To Restaurants Next Month

SAN FRANCISCO (KCBS) — Starting next month, the City of San Francisco is expanding its ban on plastic bags to thousands of restaurants that offer take out and delivery.

In 2007, the city banned plastic bags for large supermarkets and pharmacies. Last year, the ban was expanded to all retail stores.

Joshua Arce, chairman of the city's Environment Commission, told KCBS that there has been outreach to 5,000 restaurants. He is optimistic the restaurants will embrace the change.

"I've seen it in myself. You don't need a bag. You can take your items and you can walk it home, or you can take the extra step of bringing your own bag so you don't need to use a bag," he said.

Arce said his department has been closely monitoring the impact of the plastic bag law since it went into effect several years ago.

"What we're really seeing is that the behavioral shift in recognizing that it is easy to bring a bag is happening and in many cases you don't need a bag to move your items from place to place," Arce said.

Restaurants will have to switch to compostable plastic, paper bags or reusable bags by the October 1st deadline. Violators can face fines ranging from $100 to $500.

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