Concord, Massachusetts bans sale of small water bottles

[redred]

http://i.imgur.com/dyc2C.jpg

The US town of Concord in Massachusetts has banned the sale of bottled water in units smaller than one litre.

The law came into effect on January 1, after a three-year campaign to reduce waste and encourage tap water use.

First offenders will get a warning. Anyone caught selling the banned bottles a second time will be fined $25 (£15), with $50 for further offences.

The Australian town of Bundanoon introduced a complete ban on bottled water in 2009.

More than 90 universities in the US and others around the world have already restricted the sale of plastic bottles, as have some local government authorities.,

Concord has not introduced any restrictions on the sale of small bottles of other drinks, and the bylaw has an exemption in case of emergencies.

Campaigners say Americans consume 50 billion small bottles of water each year.

The bottled water industry says the small bottles are essential to modern life and encourage people to live healthier lifestyles.

But Jean Hill who led the campaign for the ban in Concord, told the New York Times: "What I'm trying to do with this bylaw is to increase the barriers to buying single-serve bottled water."

"In order to help people change, you need to put policies in place that steer them away from buying bottled water and toward considering the many other good alternatives."

Some of the town's residents argue the ban is pointless, as they can go down the road and buy small bottles from shops in neighbouring towns.

Ms Hill says she was inspired to begin her campaign by her grandson, who told her about a vast floating island of plastic waste in the Pacific Ocean.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-20895902

[FBD]

:lol: yeah, and anyone care to actually estimate how much of that mass is actually plastic water bottles?

grandson... :facepalm: anyone happen to see that show portlandia? teh wife had on season 2 episode 1. I'm thinking the grandson made a similar pitch, and her bleeding heart could just not ignore the plight of the...whatever, but we've got to ban these things :lol:

[Teh One Who Knocks]

By Richard Weir / Boston Herald


A new shot has been fired in the battle in Concord over the plastic water bottle ban, with opponents now vowing to repeal the controversial law — considered the first of its kind in the nation — that went into effect Tuesday.

“People should have the freedom to buy a legal product in the town they live in,” contends Robin Garrison, who has spearheaded a group called Concord Residents for Consumer Choice that hopes to bring single-serve plastic water bottles under 1 liter back to stores in town. “It should not be outlawed.”

The group last week filed a petition with 16 signatures — six more than needed — to get a repeal vote placed on the annual town meeting’s warrant in April.

Garrison, an unlikely warrior in the water war who fills her kids reusable water bottles with filtered tap water from her kitchen sink, believes consumers should have the right to buy what they like. “It’s not cigarettes. It’s not something harmful,” she said. “The ironic thing is that it’s healthy for you.”

She and other backers of the 
repeal drive are facing a formidable foe: Jean Hill, a grandmother who feels passionately that discarded plastic water bottles are polluting the planet.

“It took three years to get the (ban) and I’m going to fight to keep it,” said Hill. “I’m 85, but I’m mean.”

Hill said disposable water bottles flushed down storm drains are creating massive “floating islands of plastic” in the oceans, while their production and distribution consumes millions of gallons of fuel.

“These people are very concerned about their rights but they have no sense of their obligations as citizens,” she said.

Hill is going to face another enemy: The International Bottled 
Water Association on Friday issued a statement saying it was working to “prepare for the next steps in the fight against the law.”

Garrison refuted suggestions that the beverage industry was bankrolling the repeal drive, saying that while a lobbyist sat in one of their meetings, her group has 
received no financial backing.

“This was a totally grass-roots endeavor,” she said.