Will a ban change bottled water consumption patterns?

Wednesday, 20 August 2008

Corpobligation: Bottled water ban will reduce consumption and waste of plastic bottles. When your entire business flies in the face of rational resource consumption, what can a company do? Obfuscate, change, remedy damage...

London, Ontario Council banned plastic bottled water sales at several city owned buildings (18/08/2008), and the list will expand to all city owned properties, except during festivals.

Nestle seems to have decided to obfuscate about the benefits of drinking fountains and has tried to avoid discussion of the wasted energy inherent in plastic bottle, by instituting recycling plans. If this works, then corporate social responsibility will be damaged.
Quote of the day: "Councillor Van Meerbergen: predicted Londoners won't let their kids drink from public fountains that are exposed to things as vile as urine. 'Most families are not going to encourage their children to lap up water from public fountains,' he said."

Details of the ban

The ban will spread from city hall and few buildings to all city owned property, "including parks and golf courses, once an adequate supply of water fountains is provided." According to the London Free Press 19/08/2008, two forces drove the city's proposal:

- To promote city tap water as safe and a bargain compared to the bottled variety.

- To protect the environment by minimizing the use of bottled water that must be trucked to London, the plastic bottles too often ending up in the landfill.

London is a medium size Canadian town of almost 500,000 people, which, according to the LFP, consumes about "40 million single-use beverage bottles are sold in London each year, but only 20 million are recycled, city officials say. Producing bottled water creates as much as 150 times as much greenhouse gas as tap water, officials add." Per capita consumption of bottled water in Canada more than doubled to 60 liters in 2005 from less than 30 liters in 1998, according to the Beverage Marketing Corporation.

Industry response

Dasani / Coca Cola : "It's hard to bring your kitchen sink with you," spokesman Scott Tabachnick told the Globe and Mail newspaper. "To us, it's a matter of choice and a matter of personal preference," he said.

Nestlé Waters Canada - Press Release Aug. 11, 2008:

"We do not support the City of London's proposed ban on bottled water because we do not believe it will effectively encourage increased consumption of tap water or decrease plastic beverage container litter on City-owned property," said Gail Cosman, President, Nestlé Waters Canada. "Simply taking

bottled water out of a vending machine and installing a water fountain beside it in four City of London facilities will not change human behaviour. "Let's focus on actions that will increase both recycling behaviours and healthy water consumption, rather than eliminate the healthiest bottled beverage option available to consumers," she added. "Why not encourage residents of London to consume more water, whether bottled or tap, rather than take away one of their ways of consuming this healthy beverage?" Great explanation of Nestlé Waters Canada's views of bottled water myths .

Changes in water consumption / waste patterns?

If cities ban bottled water sales, this will lead to consumers thinking about their purchasing choices: The even slightly green-conscious consumer will appreciate the effort. The laziest consumer will not have the option so will take a drink from the fountain instead. The naive consumer will have a chance to learn. The city will save money on clean-up and disposal costs. The consumers and citizens will save their lungs and be safer because of reduced petroleum usage in production and transportation of bottled water.

Nestlé's suggestion that this will discourage water consumption is ridiculous especially considering the measured way in which London is introducing the ban: waiting for water fountains to be (re) installed at civic properties. The biggest hope for change is that other governments and institutions will pick up on the initiative (Ottawa is considering it - CBC). And hey, you can look just as cool with a stainless steel water canister (Guyotdesigns.com)!