SAN FRANCISCO—The San Francisco International Airport announced that they will ban the sale of single-use plastic water bottles in the airport as part of their Zero Waste SFO initiative. 

The new rule will begin on Tuesday, August 20 and states, “Airport tenants, vendors, and permittees may not provide or sell bottled water in containers that contain plastic or aseptic paper packaging, including in vending machines. Reusable water bottles, recyclable aluminum, glass, and certified compostable water bottles can instead be provided or sold.”

The rule follows one that was put into effect earlier on March 31 which required single-use plastic bottles to follow certain criteria in order to be used. They had to be in ordinance with the following: 

  • Certified compostable by the Biodegradable Product Institute (BPI) or made entirely of natural fiber such as paper, wood, or bamboo
  • Labeled “compostable” with green color coding
  • Fluorinated Chemical-free.

It also follows another rule that went into effect on March 31 stating that:

“Tenants providing beverages at Airport events with 100 or more attendees must make reusable beverage cups available to no less than 10% of attendees. Tenants may also encourage attendees to bring their own reusable beverage cup.”

The SFO is owned by the city of San Francisco and is a building owned by the municipal government. The airport must follow an ordinance that was approved in 2014 that bans the sale of plastic water bottles on city property.