Arlington town meeting considers water bottle ban

Retailers in Arlington could soon be banned from selling water in small plastic bottles.The ban will be voted on at a town meeting starting at 8pm on April 25
According to the Arlington Zero Waste Council, if passed, Article 12 would explicitly ban “the sale of plastic bottles of non-carbonated, tasteless water in sizes 1 liter or smaller.”This will apply to any business in Arlington that sells bottled water as well as town-owned buildings, including schools.The rule will go into effect on November 1.
Smaller water bottles are less likely to be recycled, said Larry Slotnick, co-chair of Zero Waste Arlington.This is because they tend to be consumed in places where people cannot easily recycle their savings, such as at sporting events.The bottles end up in the trash, Slotnick said, and most are incinerated.
While still uncommon across the state, bans like this are gaining traction in some communities.In Massachusetts, 25 communities already have similar rules in place, Slotnick said.This can take the form of a complete retail ban or just a municipal ban.Slotnick said Brookline had enacted a municipal ban that would prevent any part of town government from buying and distributing small bottles of water.
Slotnick added that these types of regulations are particularly popular in Barnstable County, where Concord passed a sweeping retail ban in 2012.According to Slotnick, members of Arlington Zero Waste worked extensively with some of these communities in the preparation of Article 12.
Specifically, Slotnick said he recently learned more from Concord residents about how the town is working to promote a public drinking water network in the wake of the ban.He learned that the town government and private entities are working together to fund more public water fountains and water bottle filling stations.
“We’ve been talking about this since the beginning. We realized we couldn’t try to ban something that a lot of consumers would obviously buy without thinking about the consequences of having water outside the home,” he said.
Zero Waste Arlington also surveyed most of the town’s major retailers, such as CVS, Walgreens and Whole Foods.Arlington sells more than 500,000 small water bottles a year, Slotnick said.He added that the figure was drawn from a survey conducted in January, a slow month for water sales, and the actual number of vials sold could be closer to 750,000.
In total, about 1.5 billion beverages are sold in Massachusetts each year.According to the commission, only about 20 percent is recycled.
“After looking at the numbers, it’s pretty staggering,” Slotnick said.”Because non-carbonated beverages cannot be redeemed … and small bottles of water are often consumed away from home, recycling rates are much lower.”
The Arlington Department of Health will enforce such a ban in a manner similar to how the town implemented its plastic grocery bag ban.
Unsurprisingly, retailers generally disapprove of Article 12, Slotnick said.Water is easy for retailers to sell, doesn’t take up a lot of storage space, doesn’t spoil, and has a high profit margin, he said.
“We have some reservations internally. Water is the healthiest drink you can buy in a store. Unlike grocery bags where retailers have alternatives but don’t actually sell the bags, we know we’re going to impact retailers’ bottom lines. It gave us a little pause,” he said.
In early 2020, Zero Waste Arlington was gearing up to launch a campaign to reduce waste in restaurants in town.The goal is to limit the number of straws, napkins and cutlery offered in takeout orders.But Slotnick said the event was canceled when the pandemic hit and restaurants started relying entirely on takeout.
Last month, Arlington Zero Waste introduced Article 12 to the Select Committee.According to Slotnick, the five members were unanimous in favor of it.
“We want Arlington residents to value tap water available to any resident,” Slotnick said.”The quality and flavor of the tap water we get is equal to or better than anything you’d find in a random bottle of Polish Spring or Dasani. The quality has proven to be just as good.”