The Concord Bottle Ban

    As some of you may know, the Concord water bottle ban is a law that prohibits stores from selling single serving (1 liter or less) plastic water bottles. The goal of the ban is to protect the environment from waste and pollution caused by transporting the bottles. The movement was started by activist Jean Hill. She thought bottled water was a useless product that harmed the environment. So she set out to make a difference. She has, but at this point it is unclear as to whether that difference is good or bad. The goal of this webpage is to make it clear.


First, I will talk about why it should be in effect in Concord and around the world. Note that this is biased.

The Concord bottle ban is a very controversial act that split the town in two. First, I will talk about why people think it is a useful, effective ban. The main reason that people want to get rid of bottled water is that the plastic bottles are bad for the environment. PET (the banned bottle material) does not recycle well. Unless there are no additives, it has to be "downcycled" and made into something else, such as carpeting or clothing. Many plastic bottles do not get recycled. Recycling rates were as low as 38.% in 2011 (according to this link). Many go into landfills and incinerators. Incinerators put smoke in the air, which is bad for obvious reasons, and when a plastic bottle gets put in a landfill it doesn't decompose. This leads to plastic bottles buried in the ground for a very, very long time. Additionally, plastic bottles are made from petroleum, a nonrenewable resource. So, it is clear that there are many drawbacks to bottled water. What about advantages? Well, bottled water is convenient. If you are driving on the highway and find yourself with nothing to drink, bottled water is there for you. So what happens to this convenience after the ban? The answer is not that much. Convenience stores still stock other drinks and alternate packaging. The only thing that won't stock water is vending machines and other small sellers. These are the main reasons that cause people to believe that this ban is a good way to cut down on waste, petroleum use, and more.

Now I will talk about why the ban isn't a good law. This is also biased.

The Concord bottle ban is a law made to cut down on waste and transportation costs. It passed in Concord by a very narrow margin. However, many people believe that this is a bad law that should be repealed. For one thing, this law drives business out of Concord. People who are traveling through Concord and want a bottle of water will simply wait until they are out of Concord. This is terrible for local businesses, many of which rely on bottled water sales.  Even if people buy a reusable bottle they won't always remember it. Some people think that the law doesn't affect anything, as there are alternatives such as other types of bottles. However, these are more expensive and aren't available in vending machines. Some of these alternatives are worse for the environment than plastic. Glass is one of these. Glass does recycle more efficiently, but it can lead to waste and can be dangerous. Cardboard bottles are very recyclable, but aren't very available. People also may just buy different drinks. Unfortunately, there is a lot more plastic in a Gatorade bottle than most water bottles. So, overall: this ban is almost useless. In fact, in some ways, it is counter effective.

In order to get the public's opinion, I went out and interviewed 30 pedestrians and 2 business owners. First, I will go over the pedestrians. 11 of them were Concord residents and 19 were from out of town. Of the ones who weren't residents 14 were from the Boston area. One of the things I asked was how many water bottles were bought a month (before the ban, for residents). The average for the Concord residents was about 10.5, while the average for the others was exactly 13. The total average was about 12.1. There were 8 people who didn't drink any plastic bottles of water. 1 was from Concord, the other 7 from out of town. The next question was about the percentage of water bottles recycled. It wasn't asked to those who bought no bottles, obviously. The final average for Concord residents was 95%, and the percentage for other people was 97.5%. The total percentage was about 96 1/3%. There were only 4 people who didn't say that they recycled 100%. Two were Concord residents. They both said they recycled 75% of their bottles. The other two said they recycled 95% and 97% of theirs. The final question was about overall support. I asked residents whether they were in favor of the ban and non-residents whether they would support the ban in their town. For this question I am missing data from a few of them. Among all of the out of towners that I interviewed, 10 of them would support a ban such as the one in Concord and 3 would be against it. However, in Concord, 4 people are for it and 4 against. It seems that people who have taken time to consider the effects are more against the ban.

I also interviewed two business owners. Both of them were not convenience stores, so the ban doesn't affect them that much. One of them saw more alternative drinks being bought, the other didn't. They both (for obvious reasons) saw a decline in water sales, even though water was still available in a different container. As they aren't convenience stores, there is no important effect to sales. Both stores noticed that the majority of customers are opposed to the ban. One storeowner said that he were against it, even if he didn't own a store. The other was also against, though he would support it if he didn't own a shop that was affected by it.

Over the course of my interviewing, I have learned that there are a good number of alternatives to bottled water. Some are obvious, others less so. One of the most common is the tap water. Tap water is, in most places, a safe, healthy drink. For those concerned about possible germs, you can just add a filter to your faucet or refrigerator. What about when you are not at home? Well, just bring a reusable bottle full of tap water. What should you do if you run out of water? Fill your bottle at a fountain. If you are still worried about germs, there are water bottles available with built-in filters. This is the ideal solution to a water bottle ban in your town. There are other solutions, if you are someone who is bad with remembering their bottle or someone who just can't stand tap, these may be for you.

Many people in Concord simply go over to, say, Acton and buy a twelve pack of bottles. This isn't good for local businesses, but I won't judge. Also, some just buy larger bottles, as it is just single serve that is banned. And finally, if you find yourself in a convenience store in Concord and in desperate need of a drink, you can always buy a soda. If you really can't stand soda, there is water available in special plastic bottles made of plants and even some made of cardboard.

In conclusion, the Concord bottle ban is a controversial issue with many different factors that combine into a medley of confusion and disarray. To be frank, I am not entirely sure myself what side to take. I think that, instead of the water bottle ban, the government should force bottle makers to print labels with warnings about the health risks of bottled water. This would turn people off of bottled water but still allow them to have it if they want. Though Concord can't do that (it would take state or federal law for that), they can change the ban to allow sale of water bottles if labels like that are made and added. But then, bottled water makers may simply stop sending bottles to stores causing it to have the same effect as the ban. Overall, I am just not sure about the bottle ban. Hopefully this website helped convince you to take a side.

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