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Photo courtesy: Flickr
Back in 2010, TreeHugger wrote about efforts by citizens of Concord, Mass., to ban the use of plastic water bottles in their city: The effort was lead by Jean Hill, an 82-year old activist, who lobbied neighbors and officials alike on the consequences of plastic bottles filling landfills and polluting local waters.
"All these discarded bottles are damaging our planet, causing clumps of garbage in the oceans that hurt fish, and are creating more pollution on our streets," said Hill.
It has taken a few years for the ban to take effect, but as of January 1st 2013, Concord became among the first U.S. communities to ban single-serving plastic water bottles.
Photo courtesy: Flickr
Water bottles might seem like a small thing, but according to Ban the Bottle:
"It takes 17 million barrels of oil per year to make all the plastic water bottles used in the U.S. alone. That's enough oil to fuel 1.3 million cars for a year." Their website also states: "In 2007, Americans consumed over 50 billion single-serve bottles of water. With a recycling rate of only 23%, over 38 billion bottles end up in landfills."
And it's not like bottled water is a good deal for your wallet either:
"The recommended eight glasses of water a day, at U.S. tap rates equals about $.49 per year; that same amount of bottled water is about $1,400."
The ban isn't exactly 1920s' prohibition, though. Stores will only be fined up to $50 for violating the ban and there an exemption for emergencies. So no government agents busting doors and trying to find the hidden stash of water bottles. But as a way to raise awareness and because most people follow the rules, it should be very effective and significantly reduce the number of single-use plastic bottles in circulation in the area (kind of like how even small 5-cent taxes on disposable plastic bags reduce their use tremendously).
Hopefully this is the beginning of a larger movement that will return bottled water to what it should have stayed: An emergency thing, when you really need water but can't get it any other way. It's ridiculous that it has become an everyday thing for so many people that have access to perfectly fine water for a fraction of the price from their tap (and there are so many great filtering systems out there for those who want to make extra sure -- though it's not like bottled water can't be contaminated either).
Our colleagues at MNN (Mother Nature Network) have more on this story: With new bylaw, Concord opens the floodgates for bottled water bans.
Photo courtesy: TreeHugger
I have previously written about Bundanoon, Australia, the first place in the world to ban bottled water. The vote took place in July, 2009 with the city getting full implementation by October, 2009.
Now, just last week, Concord, Massachusetts voted to ban the sale of all bottled water by January 2011. This makes it the first USA town to take such action and the second known town worldwide to ban all bottled water.
The effort was lead by Jean Hill who lobbied neighbors and officials alike on the consequences of plastic bottles filling landfills and polluting local waters. This 82-year-old activist used the Pacific Gyre aka The Great Garbage Patch to help demonstrate the damage floating plastic is causing to the marine ecosystems and their inhabitants.
She pointed out that there is an estimated 100 million tons of flotsam floating aimlessly in the Plastic Vortex. This nightmare of floating plastic and other debris has been named "the eighth continent" by environmentalists.
Armed with a study by the Container Recycling Institute which found that 88% of plastic water bottles are not recycled to the tune of 30 million bottles a day, Hill pointed to the alarming amount of waste and environmental damage caused. In the US alone, 60 million plastic bottles a day are manufactured at the environmental cost of producing massive amounts of greenhouse gases. Then, as if that environmental damage is not sufficient, it is transported (more pollution) somewhere else to end up thrown away leaching synthetic chemicals into the earth.
She also pointed out that bottled water containers are not redeemable although they are recyclable; and, unlike soda or other drink bottles she feels the lack of deposit refund may discourage people from recycling them.
Hill states: "All these discarded bottles are damaging our planet causing clumps of garbage in the oceans that hurt fish; and, are creating more pollution on our streets. This is a great achievement to be the first in the country to do this. This is about addressing an injustice."
Of course, the $10 billion bottled water industry is not happy with the ban and has threatened a legal challenge. Their arguement is that singling out bottled water is unfair when "thousands of food, medicinal, beauty and cleaning products are packaged in plastic." But this isn't the first time bottled water has been targeted.
More than 100 towns across the United States already prohibit spending city dollars on bottled water.
Photo courtesy: TreeHugger Click on picture and use zoom feature for enlargements.
"We obviously don't think highly of the vote in Concord," said Joe Doss, president of the International Bottled Water Association. "Any efforts to discourage consumers from drinking water, whether tap water or bottled water, is not in the best interests of consumers. Bottled water is a very healthy, safe, convenient product that consumers use to stay hydrated."
But is bottled water safe as claimed?
As the NRDC reports, water stored in plastic bottles for just 10 short weeks showed signs of phthalate-leaching. Studies indicate that phthalates block testosterone and other hormones. Keep in mind, no regulations exist governing the levels of phthalates in bottled water; and, it costs 10,000 times more than tap water. The irony here being that 40% of the water used comes straight from the tap.
The Concord ordinance is part of a statewide effort to implement new laws regarding redemption and deposit refund for a larger variety of bottles. Massachusetts' 29-year-old law only allows monetary redemption on bottles and cans from soda and beer. Bottles from non-carbonated water, iced tea, juices or energy drinks are not redeemable; although, they account for one-third of all beverages sold in the state.
Now, they are hoping to raise the redemption rate to 10 cents per container on a greater number of bottles. Go Concord! Go Jean Hill!!
Hopefully, more towns will take heed and ban plastic bottles.
Via TreeHugger and Care2
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