Ban Bottled Water!
 

Mayor wants input on bottled water ban

August 21, 2008
The Hamilton Spectator

Mayor Fred Eisenberger wants city staff to investigate whether Hamilton should follow the lead of London, Ont., in banning bottled water at municipal buildings.

"It's something we've been messaging on for quite some time as a municipality," he said yesterday, noting Hamilton has taken the "education path" so far.

"(I) don't know if we're prepared to do what London did, but it's certainly worth considering."

Toronto Mayor David Miller also said yesterday he'd like his city to join Kitchener, Ottawa and Vancouver in exploring a ban.

"Tap water is safe, clean, high-quality drinking water," said Eisenberger. "There's no reason why people shouldn't use it."

Do you think Hamilton should ban bottled water at its facilities? Comment at hallmarks.thespec.com

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Lets try our hardest to NOT make this a City vs Suburbs debate, pls!!!
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Just ban them. Sadly, people now think that regular tap water is unsafe to drink and pay $1.50 for a tiny bottle of brandname tap water that they could have had for a fraction of a cent.

What's the benefit of banning bottled water?

I think that refillable bottles and fountaines should be more accesible.

In Europe, there are really cool fountains from the 18th-19th century in every park and square...

:)

your poll question isn't stated too clearly. "personal water bottles" can mean a lot of things.
the real question is whether the city should ban the sale of bottled water in their facilities.

It is a little extreme, and I hate banning things, but all those plastic water bottles are really wasteful. I've always thought everything to do with overpriced bottles of water was stupid.

They're apparently difficult to recycle, and even though they ARE recyclable, about 35% of water bottles thrown out end up in landfills.

If Hamilton is serious about diverting waste from landfills, this would certainly help.

Sorry rth, maybe a mod can change it to something a lil more clear. I said 'personal water bottles' b/c there are other types of water bottles (ie: Culligan, etc) that people use at home. I was referring to the ones that one picks up at a store, drinks the most expensive 500ml of water they've ever drank, then throw it away.

If they were to ban, the City would need to install safe, clean & accessible water stations ALL throughout the city. We need to bring back our 'Shorty Greens' hahaha

edited to "small disposable water bottles"

I say eliminate the sale and use of bottled water at all city facilities. Do I use the odd bottle of plastic water, yes, but it's not a regular occurence.

Here's my reasons why.

1. Tap water in Canada is tested and has a high level of safety.
2. Plastic bottles cause unnecessary landfill waste (I use a Laken aluminium bottle), take many resources to produce and there is a transportation cost to the environment (truck fuel/emissions to transport)
3. Plastic bottles take up more space in recycling trucks as compared to their weight meaning more trucks required and more tailpipe emissions to collect less material (by weight).
4. If the water is spring water it's water that is removed from is natural location and transported 100's of km's. Once this water is removed from the ecosystem it's gone forever. Something I think is overlooked.
5. We pay a deposit on our liquor bottles to fund recycling, but water bottlers get off without any additional payments.
6. The guys that complain about $1.25/l gas have no problem dropping $1 on a 500ml bottle of water.
7. Two of the largest bottle water brands are just filtered tap water.............

The bottles are recyclable so I don't see a major problem. Banning bottled water I think is a waste of time. I think banning plastic bags would be more ideal, but Mayor Fred and council blew that chance already.

I'll admit I bought a case of Fiji bottled water, it's damn good water haha.

This is more achievable than the plastic bag ban. The key wording here is "at municipal buildings" -- it's a finite ban and could go into effect immediately if there was political will to do so.

So let kids decide between pop and juices instead at recreational facilities across the city? Lets hope they pick Diet pop eh?

I'm not gonna lie, if I'm out and about and thirsty as hell I'll buy a small/personal water bottle. Who doesn't? But there are alternatives!
If you like buying bottled water, buy those big jugs instead. I forget how many ml's are in them, but you can keep it in your fridge and fill one of those aluminum containers (or nalgene if you're not too paranoid, I still use them).

This would save on the recycling issue, and of course, reduce waste.

What I do, I buy those big recyclable water bottles for our personal water cooler at home ($3.29/ea. no deposit, from Costco) fill my nalgene b4 going out, and there we go. The bottles usually last a week or a lil less (all we drink is water), and it's the price of two small water bottles!
When it's empty, we step on it to crush it and toss it in the recycling.

Nalgene bottles are cancerous just so you know. If you heat up the water or any liquid the material in the plastic goes into the water. There was a warning about it a few weeks ago.

The media and general public keeps using the word BAN!!!!, like somehow you'll be fined if you're caught drinking a bottle of Dasani.

In reality this is just a municipality deciding that they won't sell bottled water in their vending machines or concession stands. Similar to KFC or Taco Bell deciding to sell only Pepsi brand products to their customers. Nobody is under any obligation to sell bottled water, it's just a convienience that is provided to people.

In the near future we're all going to have to take a hard look at everything that we buy and consume. This has happened many times in the past, when times get tough we all have to sacrifice on what we want for what we need.

Exactly. Bring your own if you like.

The problems as I see them are:

1. Most bottles aren't recycled, they are thrown in garbage.
2. Cost ($ and environmental) of collecting plastic water bottles for recycling is much greater than other products (paper, aluminium, etc.)
3. Companies that sell bottled water don't have to invest in the collection/recycling of the bottles (unfortunately, pop and flavoured drink makers don't either).

Model for recycling should be The Beer Store. The Beer Store is close to (if not at) recycling 98% of their packaging. That's a success story others should strive to achieve, and it's not funded by the government. It's funded by consumers that use the product.

Remember to throw your caps into the bottom of the case as they take them for recycling as well.

Oh ya I know. It doesn't bother me. I don't drink out of them every day. Only if I'm going for a long rollerblade where I know there is no access to drinkable water. If I'm at the Bayfront, there are a cpl water fountains so I don't bother bringing one.

And re: Rec Centres, they also have clean, safe, drinkable water fountains set up so an Aquafina vending machine is not really that necessary. Plus that water is free, so choosing it over Diet Pepsi should be an easy decision... esp for their parents ;)

I'm not a snob or anything but I can't drink out of public fountains, I'm a germaphobe.

Would a potential ban affect the HECFI facilities as well (ie Copps)?