Town bans bottled water

| 11/10/2009

(Independent): Plastic bottles were ceremoniously removed from shelves in the sleepy Australian town of Bundanoon at the weekend as a ban on commercially-bottled water – believed to be a world first – came into force. The ban, which is supported by local shopkeepers, means bottled water can no longer be bought in the town in the Southern Highlands, two hours from Sydney. Instead, reusable bottles have goneon sale, which can be refilled for free at new drinking fountains. Locals marched through the town on Saturday, led by a lone piper, to celebrate the start of the ban. The ban was triggered by a Sydney drinks company’s plan to build a water extraction plant in the town.

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  1. Green Hornet says:

    At last. Somebody, somewhere has made a sensible decision to deal with this plastic bottled water obsession that  has swept the world. The amount of energy and hydrocarbons that go into making those bottles is obscene, not to mention the horrendous amount of plastic which then goes into our landfills in the form of empty bottles.

    And many places in the world just fill the bottles with tap water, slap on a pretty label with mountains, rivers or glaciers, and people fork out good money for what they can get out of the tap at home…..

    • Yeeeuch! says:

      Valid point Green Hornet until the last line…the tapwater at my house is no good, so I drink the reverse osmosis stuff delivered in big bottles. And when I go out to dinner, I am forced by my discering palate to fork out good money because most restaurants on this island do not filter their water and no amount of lemon can take away the taste of bleach!

      I agree bottled water is bad for the earth, and I know I am spoilt and there are people on this earth drinking out of muddy puddles, but a water filter is not expensive to install or maintain… I implore local restaurants to start using them. In Vegas they sell you filtered water in fancy carafes or you can get the same water with ice out of a pitcher for free. But what is served for free in a pitcher here is just not good water! You try it!

      • Anon says:

        All water comes from reverse osmosis on this island and if you want to know where the big blue bottles are filled, follow a Flowers tanker to Red Gate Road where they buy their water from Water Authority.

        I find a cheaper alternative is the Britta Water Filter – takes out chlorine and filters nicely – delicious!