San Francisco airport bans sales of plastic water bottles

San Francisco International Airport will ban the sale of all plastic water bottles starting Tuesday.

Airport officials said the policy, which will bar the airport’s convenience stores, restaurants and vending machines from selling the bottles, is part of ongoing efforts to become zero-waste by 2021.

Starting on Tuesday, the airport will begin to phase out the bottles by selling what’s already on stores’ shelves.{mosads}

After that, airport-goers will be encouraged to bring their own water bottles or reusable containers to “hydration stations” located throughout the airport, which said it sold nearly 4 million plastic water bottles last year.

Bottled water will still be available for sale in either recyclable aluminum, recyclable glass or compostable packaging. Other drinks, including sodas and juices, will still be sold in plastic bottles.

The airport has already begun utilizing reusable or compostable food service ware, making straws available only upon request and promoting reusable cups at events.

California is the only state to have in place a statewide ban on plastic bags, and it became the first U.S. state to ban plastic straws in restaurants unless requested by customers last September.