Ban the Bottle

What does the city of Toronto have in common with the small Australian village of Gundaboon? Both municipalities are currently pursuing new laws that would ban the sale of bottled water. As reported in a recent news article, Toronto City Council recently voted to ban the sale of plastic-bottled water on city premises. If the regulation is fully implemented, the Ontario capital would be the first large city in the world to adopt such a ban. Meanwhile, Gundaboon in New South Wales, Australia has implemented a similar law that bans such sales throughout the entire town. This is part of a growing trend to “ban the bottle” by municipalities and other organizations, such as universities. The University of Winnipeg also recently implemented a ban.

Proponents of the bans cite environmental sustainability as the main reason for the push. While the single-use bottles are recyclable, many do not make it into blue bins, and ultimately pile up in landfills. As many people are now aware, the plastic in these bulky bottles then takes many decades to degrade. Thus, we are seeing implementation of regulatory control in order to address this environmental problem. However, economic incentives could instead be used in attempting to reduce the amount of plastic going to landfills. These incentives could come in the form of a deposit return system. A specific monetary deposit could be required at the time of purchase, then returned to the consumer if and when they bring bottles to a recycling facility. These incentives could help to address the problem in two ways. First, consumers stand to lose money if they do not return their used bottles, and thus would be more likely to ensure they are recycled. Second, the addition of a deposit seemingly increases the retail price of bottled water. So consumers may choose not to buy bottled water, thus also reducing accumulation.

However, such a system of incentives presents challenges. It would be very expensive to implement and administer, both to the retailers and governments. Retailers would have to make changes to their transaction systems, and would bear the responsibility of forwarding the collected deposits to the governments. Governments would have to hire new staff for administration and for handling returns. The costs to the former would be passed on to the consumer, while the costs to the latter would ultimately fall on the tax-payer. In each case, this is regardless of if they buy bottled water or not. Costs to the bottling companies would be minimal. They would continue to obtain the plastic for their bottles from recycled material, while continuing to sell their product to retailers, all without involvement in the deposit return system.


In the case of bottled water and reducing the environmental impact it causes, I prefer a system of regulatory control over economic incentives. The incentive system carries many complexities and complications between the 4 groups involved: the producers, the retailers, the consumers and the government. While all but the government contribute to the landfill problem, all but the producers incur the costs of the proposed solution. Yet the producers continue to profit from sales, and it could also be argued that they contribute the most to the landfill problem by bottling the water to begin with. Therefore it does not seem to be a fairly balanced solution. Regulatory control carries less complications. A straightforward ban in a municipality directly reduces plastic accumulation in that municipality’s landfills. It also does more to improve environmental sustainability. The production and sale of bottled water creates negative impacts beyond just plastic waste. Much energy is spent in production and transportation of the bottles to market, with even more being spent during recycling. This expenditure creates pollutant emissions. A ban on sales curbs all these negative impacts. While this does greatly affect the producers, it was they who originally created the environmental problem. Water is readily available to people in almost all parts of Canada, and the developed world. The impact caused by these companies is not necessary, and their profits should not trump the environment.

Water bottling companies profit from a resource of public domain that should not facilitate private profit, all while causing negative environmental impacts. This practice, in itself should not be allowed. A ban on bottled water sales is a step in the right direction.

Reference:

http://www.canada.com/topics/news/national/story.html?id=1027243