Paper or plastic? Not anymore in San Francisco.

The city’s Board of Supervisors approved groundbreaking legislation Tuesday to outlaw plastic checkout bags at large supermarkets in about six months and large chain pharmacies in about a year.

The ordinance, sponsored by Supervisor Ross Mirkarimi, is the first such law in any city in the United States and has been drawing global scrutiny this week.

“I am astounded and surprised by the worldwide attention,” Mirkarimi said. “Hopefully, other cities and other states will follow suit.”

In the past few years, Ireland, Australia, Taiwan and Singapore passed similar laws on the bags, which are difficult to gather and recycle on a large scale.

Source: sfgate.com

San Francisco, California.

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