San Francisco bags plastic grocery bags

SAN FRANCISCO, Nov. 19 (UPI) -- Starting Tuesday traditional plastic bags are banned from supermarket checkout lines in San Francisco.

The ban is being implemented under a city ordinance passed this year, the San Francisco Chronicle reported Monday.

"People are used to getting free bags and thinking there is no real consequence to them, but there is a cost," said Jack Macy, commercial recycling coordinator for the city's Department of the Environment, which implemented the new policy.

City officials estimated 180 million plastic bags were handed out in the city each year, ending up as litter on city streets, clogging storm drains, harming wildlife, and contaminating and jamming machines used in recycling, said Macy.