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Environmental Zone
MUNICIPALITIES AND WATER BOTTLES
Dianne Saxe
Whether it should be or not, the bottled water industry is big business.
According to Agriculture and Agri-Food Canada,1 the bottled water market increased by over 18 percent from 2004 to 2005, and another 13 percent in 2006. That’s 2.15 billion litres. Bottled water is a rapidly growing part of Canada’s commercial beverage marketplace, increasing its share of total beverages to 9.1 percent (2006) from 5 percent (2000). Carbonated soft drinks are still ahead, but shrinking, seeing a decline in volume to 15.1 percent from 16.5 percent of commercial beverages.
The bottled water business consists of two distinct sectors: the home/office delivery format (returnable polycarbonate containers up to 18 litres in volume); and the single-use bottle PET2 format (250 millilitres to 5 litres in volume). The PET segment makes up 24 percent of the market, supplying both the Canadian and export markets.
Bottled water marketers pitch their product as a “healthier” alternative to conventional soft drinks. This is true; bottled water doesn’t rot your teeth or pad your middle. They also hint that bottled water is healthier than tap water, although this is rarely the case in Canada. Municipal water supplies are highly regulated and monitored for quality and contamination, while bottled water supplies are not.3
Many bottled waters are repackaged forms of tap water. In addition, there is some ground for concern about the plastic bottles themselves. For example, toxic chemicals like ethylene oxide, benzene, and xylenes are released during production and disposal of single-use plastic water bottles.4 Although they are not meant to be re-used, water bottles often are, and may leach more chemicals into their contents with age.
Tap water is, of course, far cheaper. And, as to environmental impact, tap water wins, hands down! The manufacture and transportation of bottled water consumes vast amounts of energy, often estimated at one quarter bottle of oil per bottle of water. Water pumped for sale in bottles often has adverse environmental effects, such as drying up springs. As well bottled water often leaves the watershed from where it was taken, upsetting local water balances. Water bottlers typically take this precious public resource without paying for it, since there is no royalty on water as there is for oil.
Empty water bottles take up precious landfill space and are expensive for municipalities to handle. And then there is the litter problem, which is unsightly on land and deadly at sea. In 2006, the UN Environment Programme reported that over 46,000 bits of plastic litter float on every square mile of ocean.5 As well, it has long been known that the world’s largest floating garbage dump – a plastic soup double the size of the continental US – is made up mainly of discarded plastic, including water bottles. This mess stretches for 500 nautical miles off the California coast, across the Pacific Ocean, towards Japan.6
Some Cities and School Boards Ban the Bottle
Much of the environmental impact of bottled water falls upon municipalities; 80 percent of plastic bottle waste goes to landfill. Yet many municipalities have succumbed to the habit of serving bottled water – I’ve even had bottled water served to me in a municipal water plant! Shamefully, a recent news article claims that schools with beverage sales agreements had fewer working water fountains than those without.
On August 18, London, Ontario’s city council set an important precedent when it voted to eliminate sales of single-use bottled water in municipal facilities.7 As a result, single-use bottled water will no longer be available at the city hall cafeteria or at any city-owned or -administered concessions or vending machines “where tap water is easily available.” Nor will single-use bottled water be provided at meetings. A staff and public awareness campaign will be developed; update reports are scheduled for later this year or early next, and for September 2009. The city is acting fast – its first phase was to be implemented by September 1 – in locations like the city hall cafeteria. Hockey arenas and community centres are targeted in the next phase, and the city is examining how access to tap water can be improved at golf courses.
Some other municipalities are moving down the same road. Charlottetown council switched to tap water in 2007.8 In 2008, St. John’s, Newfoundland council passed a motion that only tap water will be provided at city hall.9 City council in Nelson, BC banned single-use plastic bottles in city-owned and -operated facilities.10 Nelson is also examining whether water coolers may be filled with tap water. School boards in Waterloo and Ottawa-Carleton will ban purchase and sale of single-use plastic bottles of water in their schools starting in September 2009.11
Who’s Next?
Vancouver city council has asked its staff to investigate eliminating bottled water being sold to or available from all city departments and services.12 Instead of buying bottled water, Vancouver plans to invest in reusable water containers for its employees, and to increase the number of drinking fountains. As well, it will work with Metro Vancouver to promote awareness about the environmental and health benefits of tap water.
Toronto is considering a similar move.13
Montreal has nixed the idea of banning single-use plastic bottles.14 Instead, it will try to increase recycling rates, likely through a deposit system. Unfortunately, it faces an uphill battle. According to a report from the Canadian Plastics Industry Association,15 while deposit/return systems are significantly more effective than voluntary depot programs, only 36 percent of plastic bottles were recycled in 2002.In those places with safe municipal drinking water, bottle bans and public fountains are simple, effective ways to reduce our public and private environmental footprint. Watch for many more municipalities to follow the lead of Charlottetown, Nelson, and London. MW
Footnotes:
1 The Canadian Bottled Water Industry, http://www4agr.gc.ca/AAFC-AAC/display-afficher.do?id=1171644581795&lang=e.
2 Polyethylene terephthalate plastic; for an explanation of the different types of plastics used, including for most water and pop bottles, see Plastics By Number at http://www.davidsuzuki.org/files/NC/newsletter/plasticsbynumber.pdf.
3 The provinces are responsible for monitoring municipal water supplies; since deadly outbreaks in Walkerton and the Battlefords in Saskatchewan tied to contaminated drinking water, much more stringent systems are in place to ensure drinking water safety. On the other hand, bottled water is regulated through the federal Food and Drugs Act and the Consumer Packaging and Labelling Act. As well, bottled water companies are supposed to comply with provincial water-taking regulations.
4 Letter to London, Ontario Environment and Transportation Committee, Monday August 11, 2008 from K. Sawchuk, Council of Canadians. Available at http://council.london.ca/meetings/ETC%20Reports/2008-08-11%20Report/Item%206.pdf.
5 Ecosystems and biodiversity in deep waters and high seas: UNEP Regional Seas Report and Studies No. 178 (2006). http://www.unep.org/pdf/EcosystemBiodiversity_DeepWaters_20060616.pdf.
6 See “The world’s rubbish dump: a garbage tip that stretches from Hawaii to Japan” (Feb. 5, 2008) at http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/the-worlds-rubbish-dump-a-garbage-tip-that-stretches-from-hawaii-to-japan-778016.html. Greenpeace’s Plastic Debris in the World’s Oceans (2005) is available at http://oceans.greenpeace.org/raw/content/en/documents-reports/plastic_ocean_report.pdf.
7 The city’s Environment and Transportation Committee had passed a resolution on August 11, 2008. Available at http://council.london.ca/meetings/ETC%20Reports/2008-08-11%20Report/Environment%20and%20Transportation%20Committee%20Report.pdf. These recommendations were passed by council on August 20 (minutes for this latter meeting are not yet posted at http://www.london.ca/d.aspx?s=/meetings/Council%20Minutes/meetingpackages.htm.
8 Canada: Charlottetown mayor orders halt to bottled water (June 4, 2007). http://www.insidethebottle.org.
9 CBC News In Depth: Bottled water: quenching a planet’s thirst. http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/consumers/bottled-water.html.
10 Corporation of The City of Nelson – Minutes of Council May 5, 2008 – contains a notice of motion for the next regular council meeting, “That bottled water not be provided in any facilities owned or operated by the City of Nelson, unless good quality tap water is not available,” http://www.city.nelson.bc.ca/pdf/c08-0505.pdf. The June 9 meeting further included that “…the possibility of refilling water coolers with tap water be further explored.”
11 “Board bans sale of bottled water at its schools” (The Star – April 24 2008), http://www.thestar.com/News/GTA/article/417737.
See also the board’s newsletter (May 2008) at http://www.wrdsb.on.ca/strive/strive_strive_may_08.pdf.
See also Ottawa-Carleton District School Board’s News Brief from the Boardroom (May 27, 2008), http://www.ocdsb.edu.on.ca/Documents/Board/DirectorNotes/Dir_Notes_2008/DN_May27_2008.asp.
12 Vancouver City Council Minutes, July 22, 2008, http://vancouver.ca/ctyclerk/cclerk/20080722/documents/motionb1.pdf.
See the original (July 17, 2008) Motion on Notice: Bottled Water, http://www.vancouver.ca/ctyclerk /cclerk/20080722/documents/motionb1.pdf.
13 Toronto considering ban on sale of bottled water, Globe and Mail, Aug. 20, 2008, http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20080820.wtoronto20/BNStory/National/home.
14 Montreal’s The Gazette, City hall pours water on single-use plastic bottle ban, August 22, 2008 http://www.canada.com/montrealgazette/ news/story.html?id=ea4af332-d267-4017-a1f2-b69f8960bcc2.
15 CM Consulting, An overview of plastic bottle recycling in Canada, prepared for the Environment and Plastics Industry Council (updated August 2004): pp. 1-46,
http://www.cpia.ca/files/files/files_plastic_bottle_recovery.pdf.
From the January 2009 issue of Municipal World
Check out Dianne’s bio on the Municipal World website.
