As of 1st of October this year, citizens of San Francisco will no longer be allowed to buy water in small plastic bottles. In an attempt to minimize plastic pollution, and reach one of the most ambitious targets- zero net waste by 2020, the Board of Supervisors introduced the ban, prohibiting the sale of plastic water bottles smaller that 21 ounces at any non-sport events that host more than 100 people, as well at any communal city parks and properties, except the airport.
Just a few months after the proposal for such strict ban was submitted by Supervisor David Chiu, San Francisco’s city officials turned it into a permanent law and made the city the first one ever to have introduced such measure. The law does not apply only when there are marathons and other official sporting events, and leaves a little hole for private businesses to trade in bottles of water.
The legislation was approved by all members of the Board of Supervisors, who encourage the law as it is one of the most obvious ways to deal with the city’s pollution problem. This is strongly supported by the well known fact that bottling and transporting water has a huge negative impact on the environment. It has not even been 15 years since the bottled water industry began their campaign to encourage people to buy the liquid gold in a packaging that fits their handbags, hence Chiu and the remaining members are more than convinced that people will be easily able to adjust to the new regulation.
But for some, the ban is not very well thought. The argument is that if small water bottles are banned from big events, then people will opt for fuzzy drinks and alcohol instead. I guess this is true for all of those with no common sense.
Image (c) Calliope
