Yeah, I thought that plastic-bag scene from American Beauty was ridiculous, too. When the kid said “It’s so beautiful,” I couldn’t stop laughing.

Anyway, I’m not sure how city council members feel about that flick–an Oscar winner for Best Picture!–but a city committee gave a thumbs up to a proposed single-use plastic bag bag yesterday.

Now, city council looks poised to ban all single-use plastic bags within the city limits.

The ban wouldn’t just impact big supermarkets like Safeway and Raley’s; all most stores would no longer be able to give customers plastic bags (take-out food places such as Panda Express or Thai restaurants will be exempt).

The start date is January 1, 2015, so there’s still time to, uh, do whatever you do with all those used plastic bags until then.

Which apparently is not much: The city staff report says that Californians use some 19 billion plastic bags a year, but recycle fewer than 5 percent.

City council is expected to vote on the ordinance next month later this year.