In a trailblazing environmental move that recognizes one of the stubborn shortfalls of traditional recycling, city leaders have approved a ban on nonbiodegradable plastic bags at supermarkets and large pharmacy checkout counters.

San Francisco currently crinkles its way through 181 million plastic bags every year. Only 1 percent of those bags get a second life in products like deck furniture and railroad ties, even after a decade of trying to boost recycling. Nationally, the picture is similar: Less than 1 percent of 100 billion plastic bags tossed each year get recycled.

By voting Tuesday to ban traditional plastic bags, made from petroleum, the city hopes to spur retailers to provide an alternative type of plastic bag – one made from starches. Customers can discard this kind of bag in their compost collection bins, which are widely used here.

San Francisco will be the first US city to prohibit petroleum-based bags, pending expected final approval. But it's in good company internationally, joining countries in Africa, Asia, and Europe. Environmentalists hope such bans will move into the American mainstream.

"This is groundbreaking legislation that could have a domino effect across California and eventually the country," says John Rizzo, who serves on the executive board of the Sierra Club's San Francisco Bay chapter. "We are definitely behind the curve [internationally] on this."

South Africa, Rwanda, Zanzibar, and the French island of Corsica have banned throwaway plastic bags, as have a handful of Alaskan towns. Bangladesh and the Indian state of Maharashtra, which includes the megalopolis of Mumbai, have also passed prohibitions, saying the bags clogged drains during floods. Phaseouts are planned in Paris, south Australia, and parts of western Canada.

Other countries and some companies have slapped surcharges on plastic bags. A "plastax" of 15 cents per bag in Ireland cut usage by more than 90 percent. This month, furniture retailer IKEA expanded a five-cents-per-bag fee into its US stores. The company credits the policy with curbing plastic bag use by 95 percent over 10 months in its British stores.

Box-stores like IKEA, restaurants, and mom-and-pop marts won't be affected by the San Francisco ordinance – only the large grocers and pharmacies, which are estimated to hand out more than 90 percent of the city's bags. Those affected by the law, expected to be implemented seven months from now, are still weighing their options, says Dave Heylen, a spokesman for the California Grocers Association.

"If you look at the costs [of compostable bags] and [if] they are as high as what we believe they are going to be, I think it will be a safe assumption to say that retailers will be more inclined to go back to a paper bag, which [costs] considerably less," says Mr. Heylen.

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