Massachusetts Municipality Is First In U.S. to Ban Sale of Water In Personal Size Plastic Bottles
February 28, 2013 Kyriaki (Sandy) Venetis Making history and creating new controversy, in the town of Concord, Mass. a ban on the sale of water in personal size plastic bottles has taken effect, and officials have begun enforcement.
Jean Hill, a Concord resident in her eighties who petitioned for the bylaw, told Wicked Local Concord that her primary concern throughout the process was for the environment. She told the publication that she “believes even with recycling that plastic water bottles harm the environment by using fossil fuels and producing excess carbon dioxide emissions.”
The Center for Microbial Oceanography at the University of Hawaii at Manoa says that it takes about 100 years for a plastic bottle to biodegrade and the problem is huge.
The Ban the Bottle campaign further adds that, “Last year, the average American used 167 disposable water bottles, but only recycled 38, and that overall, “Americans used about 50 billion plastic water bottles last year. However, the U.S.’s recycling rate for plastic is only 23 percent.”
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency added more broadly that, “Of the 30.7 million tons of plastic generated in 2007, only 2.09 million tons or less than seven percent were recycled.”
To address these issues in its own small way, the Concord bylaw specifically prohibits the sale of non-sparkling, unflavored drinking water contained in 1 liter (34 ounce) or less sized self-serving polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles.