Concord Vote Bans Sale Of Plastic Water Bottles

By Benjamin Swasey April 26, 2012

BOSTON — In what residents say is the first such ban in the country, Concord voted last night to outlaw the sale of single-serve plastic water bottles at town stores.

According to Wicked Local Concord, the provision passed in a town meeting by 39 votes, 403-364, following nearly two hours of debate.

As The Boston Globe reports:

Supporters of the ban say it will help the environment and limit consumers’ exposure to toxic chemicals. But critics fear it will harm businesses when residents cross town lines to purchase bottled water.

Opponents also say the ban could embroil the town in costly litigation and represents an attack on personal freedom.

Wicked Local has more details on the bylaw:

The bottled water bylaw … bans the sale of non-sparkling, unflavored drinking water in single-serving polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles of 1 liter (34 ounces) or less in Concord on or after Jan. 1, 2013. It provides for an exemption in the case of emergencies, outlines an enforcement process and also allows for a process to suspend the bylaw if necessary.

The Globe reports that stores found violating the ban would be fined, following a warning for a first offense.

Concord’s town ban, which has been attempted in years prior, must be approved by the attorney general’s office before it could go into effect.

grrrrr

The corporations will not let a precedent like this stick. They have legal SWAT teams that will likley show up soon there and quietly squeeze the life out of this by threatening to embroil the community in a multi-million dollar lawsuit (claiming to counter-suit for a sum the comunity cannot afford for “damages”; of course, damage to the environment and people is no an externality that matter right?). It’s been happening for years now all over America when communities try to excercise their democratic rights. Too bad.
- http://twitter.com/suellis Susan Sirois Ellis
  
  So true… unless, of course, there is a huge public outcry in support of the ban. If most people in Concord, MA don’t mind giving up the convenience of single-serve bottles, and if enough of them are passionately against having them in their town, it could be best to let this go quietly. I mean, imagine what kind of precedent it would set for corporations if supporters of the ban promoted a boycott of bottled water nationwide. With the Internet, it’s totally possible it could happen…
  
  As a PR person working for a company that makes and/or distributes bottled water, I would definitely tread lightly on this one…responding with positive advertising and PR promoting the upsides of bottled water (convenience, ensures your kids have enough water to drink, etc…you could come up with a bunch of them) and ways companies try to reduce impact (like one company that has begun using less plastic in each bottle…yes, I know it is cheaper for them, but it does, in fact, put less poison into the environment).
  - http://twitter.com/Dareitus Alex Kenney
    
    If they were that passionate about the ban they would simply not buy the water, and the local stores would stop selling it due to lack of demand. They lack the Power of Will to resist buying the bottles and have to have them banned. They passed this same law in Concord back in 2010, and it failed to go into effect as planned in 2011. Most people don’t even remember that they ALREADY passed this law, that’s how little they care about it.
    
    This Law, and this Community, are a joke. Concord is laughable at best.
  - Carerra3_2
    
    There is no upside. The bottles are made of oil. They don’t get disposed of or recycled properly. Testing the contents of the water in those bottles will shock anyone. Bottled water companies are no different than the standard oil of yesteryear -coming into communities and pumping out the water from the springs.. and bottling tapwater with advertising to make people afraid to drink water out of a faucet. Same water, less oil seepage, fraction of the cost.
    
    We have to stop behaving like there is plenty of water around. Just because it’s convenient doesn’t mean it’s right.
- tap to go
  
  You’re right “grrrrrrr”, pertaining to corporations coming down and trying to squeeze the proponents of this measure into bankruptcy and legal tangle.
  
  Bottled water contributes to the accelerated degradation of the environment, junking up landfills. I, for one, have been boiling water for years and filling up my water bottle wherever I go (work, travel, etc.) as that’s how I was raised in the pre-bottled water era.
  
  Depending on your town/city, tap water is just as satisfactory - and a lot cheaper.
  
  I don’t personally advocate a collective ban, I simply choose not to purchase them nor have the desire to support these corporations.
http://twitter.com/Dareitus Alex Kenney

Meanwhile, Cigarettes, Liquor, Beer, Tattoos, Energy Drinks, and other “legal poisons” are still perfectly legal in Concord. It’s the water that’s the real problem. Seriously?
Richard_haroutunian

This needs to be publicized. Comnpanies like Nestle take water from communities and sell it back them at 1000x the cost. Not to mentioned the tap water that turns into Dasani and Aquafina – with advertising that suggests it somehow cleaner and purer than tap water.

Meanwhile, the oil it takes to produce the bottles and the plastics that actually comprise the bottles seep into the water and no one knows the harm it does or cares until it’s too late.
- Rufus
  
  We have a perfect system to control this, that well-meaning liberals refuse to use, becasue they are control freaks equal in every way to religious zealots trying to impose restrictions on civil rights.
  
  The soluton to the 1000x cost of water being resold it NOT TO BUY IT, not to make it selling it illegal.
  
  Only a fool thinks we can legislate a way to keep a fool and his money together.
Charlie Pell

Corporations are not evil. Corporations (and people) do what they do to make money, very simple, predictable and well-proven to be better for the greater good than government controls, regardless how well-meaning.

If you can really distribute water cheaper than Dassani, Aquafina et al, do it, and put them out of buisness. Use glass if you think it is better than plastic. Use a different plastic. Start a Zip-Bottle rental program, with local taps to refill from…

By the way…I’ve never purchased water in a bottle that costs more than gas, which was drilled, transported, refined and distributed. Duh!

The free market works, use it.
David Tanner

Leave us out of your semi-scientific zealotry. All of you that don’t like this, should ban together and not buy it.

However now that I think about it, legislating you into my biases is very appealing. I think I’ll get some well-meaning town council together and make it illegal to sell Prius’s since they have a carbon footprint far larger than diesels.

Oh, you don’t like that idea?
Mjmcwhirter

Half you people miss the point
- Amos1954
  
  Not missing the point . There is so much out there that is “harmful” but is this the start of someone else telling me how to live? I recycle I understand but if this is the start from some tree hugger where does it end? Or does it?
BrianL99

I live in Concord and I’m embarrassed that the town could possibly be populated by enough morons, to pass such a ludicrous bylaw. Is there no sanity left in the world?
Amos1954

I know where I wouldn’t want to live with such a controlling town.
Mjmcwhirter

Maybe it takes towns doing this to raise awareness of the problem. H2O bottle companies get the water for next to free..from the people.(most wells are on public domain) So it should be taxed to lower the peoples water service tax rate, and if there were a 10cent deposit on all plastic bottles then 97% of them would be recycled which would help with bottle pollution.
Jeanhill01742

The concern that the bottle ban would harm the businesses in Concord, i.e. Crosby’s Market and the West Concord Supermarket, is a phony one. Residents will continue to shop at these stores.
However, the stores must adapt to face reality. For example, instead of complaining about lost business as Crosby did, the market should install hydration stations, and sell re-usable bottles in various sizes.
Vanna

I am curious….does the town of Concord have recycle barrels throughout the town? And…..aren’t plastic bottles recyclable?
- Mjmcwhirter
  
  Vanna, being recyclable and being recycled are 2 different things. If you get time, watch the movie Tapped. There is a lot of info in that movie that I wasn’t aware of regarding the problems of plastic bottles and bottled water. I see why enlightend people try to make changes like this, even though the changes seem silly at first glance.
Concerned

Who lead this initiative? I would like to start the process of banning single use plastic bottles in our city. Thanks.
BKoslof

Honestly this is an incredibly stupid law. People should not be forced into being environmentally conscious, whether it’s right or not. This is the beginning of the end…
Jeff Dearman

Next time I go to Concord to the North Bridge I will bring the BIGGEST
BOTTLE OF WATER I can find and drink it in plain sight in front of the
Police Station to make my stand. I will drink it at the Old north Bridge
too .A water bottle “Revolution” so to speak. Try to stop me
Jeff Dearman

I urge everyone who visits Concord tourists and locals alike to Buy a Giant Water bottle in Protest and visit the downtown and Old North Bridge. Lets pain the town with Water Bottles!!! “Time for a Water Bottle “Revolution” :-)
http://www.facebook.com/vanessa.lagrange.397 Vanessa Lagrange

It is not a big deal, carry with you a
reusable bottled and fill it in a drinking fountain.
I know most people think tap water is not safe and that is true but
there is a healthy and safe way to drink tap water and assure you a pure
water and it is called Aquasmarter. They sell a reusable bottle with a
purifier inside. I and my family have one of them, and it is amazing,
since we have it, we have no worries about drinking tap water.

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