According to CNN (via Reuters), San Francisco became the first U.S. city today to ban plastic bags from large supermarkets.

Under the legislation, beginning in six months large supermarkets and drugstores will not be allowed to offer plastic bags made from petroleum products….The city’s Department of the Environment said San Francisco uses 181 million plastic grocery bags annually…The ban would save 450,000 gallons of oil a year and remove the need to send 1,400 tons of debris now sent annually to landfills. The new rules would, however, allow recyclable plastic bags, which are not widely used today.

This all, of course, is still pending the Mayor’s signature. We assume this will happen sometime soon.

Hopefully this is just the first of many bans on those pesky plastic bags.