Australian Town Bans Bottled Water
by Jorge Chapa, 07/09/09
The small Australian town of Bundanoon just set a new standard for sustainability by voting to do what no community has ever done before: ban bottled water! The measure was founded over concerns about the tremendous amount of resources used to extract, package, and transport bottled water, and it passed nearly unanimously in a town hall meeting. Will this be the beginning of a trend?
Although Bundanoon is a small community of about 2,500 residents, the decision to ban bottled water sets a great example for towns and cities around the world. The decision to ban bottled water began as a response to the desire of a bottling company to extract water from the town, take it to Sydney, and bring it back to the town to sell it. After the town learned of the environmental impacts of this cycle they decided to do something about it.
All the shops in the town agreed to the measure, and now instead of bottled water the town will install filtered water fountains so that people can fill their reusable bottles free of charge. The shops will sell these reusable containers to visitors coming to the town.
Via BBC News
The potential problem I can see with this measure is that it will encourage people to drink sodas and other packaged sugary beverages. If a person stops at a convenience store for a cold drink and doesn’t have a refillable bottle on them, they’ll probably just choose a (cheap) can or bottle of soda instead of buying a new (more expensive) reusable bottle.