Posted on 07/10/2009 6:18:34 AM PDT by Diana in Wisconsin
Sydney, Australia (AHN) - The small town of Bundanoon in New South Wales, Australia has become the world's first community to ban bottled water to protect the environment.
Residents voted 350-1 in favor of the ban during a public meeting at the town hall on Wednesday night. They said "huge amounts of resources are used to extract, package and transport bottled water" and "discarded plastic bottles then end up as litter or go into landfill sites," according to BBC.
Residents and visitors to the town of 2,500 will be encouraged to use reusable containers or bottles in getting water from water fountains in the main street.
The ban was spurred by a company's bid to tap underground water from the town, bottle it in Sydney and then sell it to residents. People concerned with the environmental impact of bottled water then launched the "Bundy on Tap" campaign to stop the project and ban bottled water altogether.
*shrug* Local control. They did it to themselves on the most local level possible. I’m supposed to step in and express my disapproval for some reason? I’ll just not live there instead.
That’s one way of looking at it. Amazing that the majority wanted this, and didn’t want to make any $ off of their local resource, though.
Banning all bottled water is extreme but I can’t say I’m surprised that they didn’t want to make money off of their local resources in this way. Spring water being piped across the country only to be bottled, trucked back, and sold to me Vs. turning on the tap. I’d be offended that they expected me to buy what was on tap and I don’t see how money made from selling it could equal the costs added to moving it around the country.
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