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Toronto City Council votes to ban plastic water bottles by 2011
Posted by Montreal Environment in Consumer Life
The bottled water backlash is gaining ground and finding a sympathetic ear from city councils across Canada. On December 3rd the City of Toronto council has voted to ban water bottles on all municipal premises by 2011, joining the 17 municipalities form 5 provinces that have already done so. The move is part of the Toronto’s ambitious plan to divert 70% of its waste from the dump.
Each City agency, board, commission and division is responsible for creating a 4 year (2007-2010) Waste Diversion Plan to identify actions and plans that meets the 70% waste diversion target. In 2007, Toronto’s Facilities & Real Estate (F&RE) Division had already surpassed the target registering an 80% rate under its 3R approach: reduce, reuse and recycle. Some of the initiatives under the 4 year plan include:
- Reduced paper towel distribution in office buildings
- City Hall cafeteria started to use compostable cups and take away food containers
- Used only reusables at large divisional meetings and seminars
- Tracked waste data in all facilities on a quarterly basis
- Carried out waste audits on all major buildings
- Toronto Police Services implemented new or improved recycling programs and carried out waste audits at the majority of division buildings.
The battle against bottled water made headway earlier this year in the Region of Waterloo (Waterloo, Cambridge and Kitchener) when the council voted, on September 17, to eliminate the sale and purchase of bottled water in city buildings. The bottled water industry is losing ground and lobbyists are having a hard time with municipal councils and other organizations. This year alone the City of London enacted a similar ban on the purchase and sale, as well as the Upper Grand District School Board in Guelph that plans eliminate the sale of bottled water from vending machines and cafeterias by 2009.
A drop in sales is worrying bottle water companies. PepsiCo’s Aquafina registered 12.7 % drop in sales in 2008, and Nestlé Waters lost 1.1% in sales in the first 6 months of 2008. More recently a coalition of environmental groups filed a complaint against Nestlé Waters’ advertisement that claims bottled water is “environmentally responsible”, alleging the ads are misleading and unsupportable.
The issue is really a battle against plastic as more countries, provinces and cities are taking measures to decrease the use of plastic. San Francisco became the first North American City to ban plastic shopping bags in 2007, and China banned the use of plastic shopping bags in January this year, a move that is also gaining support. The city of Vancouver passed a motion in October this year that that will undertake an investigation on the feasibility of such a ban. According to Worldwatch Institute, about 500 billion plastic bags are tossed worldwide. It takes approximately 1000 years for a plastic bag to dissolve.
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