South Portland official wants to put the squeeze on water bottles
A South Portland city official said the city should consider the next logical step of its sustainability and excess waste trimming efforts by banning the sale of single-use plastic water bottles.
“It seems to me if we’re moving in the direction of being sustainable, (banning plastic water bottles) seems like a logical next step,” City Councilor Brad Fox said, according to The Forecaster.
The city currently is six months into a 5-cent fee on single-use shopping bags and a ban on polystyrene food containers. Fox said the water bottle ban is a continuation of the city’s 2014 Climate Action Plan by cutting excess waste and trimming the energy consumption used to make the single-use bottles, according to The Forecaster.
A ban on plastic water bottles is still a rarity in the United States, but Concord, Mass., made the jump in 2013. Concord Town Manager Chris Whelan told The Forecaster that retailers selling bottled water were concerned about a loss in profits from the ban. Other detractors of the ban in Concord said the ban on single-use water bottles is arbitrary because other drinks like soda and juice also are sold in single-use bottles.
South Portland Mayor Tom Blake told The Forecaster that he would like to hold a workshop on the logistics of a ban once the November general election is over and the city staff is less overwhelmed with work.
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