The new rules, which will take effect on August 20, will apply to all restaurants, coffee shops and kiosks at San Francisco Airport, except for in-flight and flavored drinks. The airport has installed 100 water dispensers so customers can refill their metal bottles or glass cups as needed, part of a five-year plan to reduce waste, carbon emissions and energy use to zero.
San Francisco International Airport has also pioneered green initiatives such as installing solar panels and instructing airport vendors to use compostable food containers, including straws and trays. Internationally, airports in the UAE and India have announced similar plans to ban plastic bottles, but implementation has been patchy.
San Francisco banned the sale of plastic water bottles in public places in 2014, but allowed some locations to delay or exempt the rule. The global plastic industry is growing rapidly and has now reached 400 million tons/year. However, single-use plastics account for 70% of the plastic waste that is poisoning the environment in the oceans every day.
According to American scientists, every year, millions of birds and more than 100,000 marine mammals are injured or die from being trapped in plastic waste or eating it.
