San Francisco International Airport is forbidding the trade of single-use plastic bottles and will need fliers to buy refillable bottles if they’re not already carrying their own, US media reported on Friday.
The new law comes into effect on August 20, the San Francisco Chronicle reported and is part of a five-year plan to decrease landfill waste, net carbon emissions and net energy use to zero.
The ban will apply to all restaurants, cafes and vending machines, though not to planes using the airport. It exempts brands of flavored water.
Filtered water is provided for free at 100 “hydration stations,” where flyers can top up the glass or metal bottles.
Airports in Dubai and India have announced similar plastic bottle bans, but have yet to fully implement them.
Global plastic production has grown rapidly and is currently at more than 400 million tons per year.
Single-use items represent about 70 percent of the plastic waste littering the marine environment.
