Breaking News
War on plastic bottles bubbles along
Chelsea White
19 April 2008
IN a radical plan to bolster Manly's war on bottled water, people will be offered a choice of paying for filtered water from specially designed coin-operated bubblers or free tap water.
The plan is believed to be yet another Australian first and will also see the council embark on an education campaign to encourage retailers to stop selling bottled water.
The council has already banned the sale of bottled water at its functions and successfully forced the new Totem shopping centre to go plastic free.
However, Mayor Peter Macdonald wants to try to elicit a cultural change through a campaign to educate retailers and visitors to choose tap water over exotic bottled water, starting first with The Corso area.
Cr Macdonald's proposal will go before Monday's council meeting so that Manly can, along with environmental group, the Bottled Water Alliance, combat the increasing trend of drinking bottled water.
``There is no sound reason for this trend. Sydney Water is perfectly safe to drink and is freely available,'' he said in his report.
``Manly Council needs to take a role in educating and encouraging people to drink tap water.''
He said this will be done through both the retailer campaign ``on the merits of tap water'' and the installation of multiple coin-operated ``dual water stations'' along The Corso.
The bubblers will dispense both free tap water and filtered water at a small cost.
Councillor Barbara Aird said yesterday these are already in development. The price of the water stations and the filtered water has yet to be released.
The bubblers would be rolled out to coincide with the campaign to retailers promoting the benefits of selling refillable over pre-filled bottles.
Cr Aird said retailers will not be forced to abandon their often lucrative bottled water products.
``We can't stop them, but at the end of the day they would have an advantage if they didn't (stock it) because, if they are just selling the empty bottles, it saves space and refrigeration,'' she said.
Cr Aird said many would not lose money if they went without pre-packed water as they would make a profit on the empty refillable ones.
According to Cr Macdonald the limiting of bottled water use has both an environmental benefit and a cost benefit by preventing the number of bottles that are discarded.
``The trend of consuming bottle water creates costs that must be borne by Council, so its more than appropriate that we take a leading role in discouraging that consumption in the first place,'' he said.
Manly's newest plastic-free scheme still has a long way to go, however, before becoming a reality.
On Monday night the council will only vote on whether to embark on a report into the campaign and bubblers for The Corso area.
If that is successful it will be months before a report is available and even then the council could vote against the move.
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