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Australian Town Bans Sale Of Bottled Water For Environmental Reasons | World News | Sky News

Green Oz Town Gives Bottled Water The Boot

9:43am UK, Monday September 28, 2009

Ian Woods, Sky News correspondent, in Australia

A small town in Australia has become the first in the world to ban the sale of bottled water.

Residents said the cost of making, transporting and disposing of the plastic bottles is damaging the environment.

People in Bundanoon in New South Wales voted in favour of the ban three months ago and since then, chilled filtered water dispensers have been installed throughout the town.

Over the weekend, all bottles of still water were removed from shops and replaced with reusable containers which cost around £2 each. Customers can then refill them, either in the store, or at a drinking fountain in the street.

Some residents welcomed the action simply on cost grounds.

One man told me it was how it used to be - when everyone drank water for free.

Another complained that bottled water was more expensive than beer.

Tapping into public opinion

But the main reason for implementing the ban was environmental.

The people of Bundanoon, 90 miles from Sydney, decided that the impact of manufacturing the bottles, transporting the water round the country and then disposing of the empties could not be justified.

Matters came to a head when a bottling company decided to extract water from the Bundanoon area.

Faced with the prospect of their water being driven to Sydney, put into bottles, and then driven back to the town, residents decided to act.

The campaign was led by Huw Kingston, who emigrated to Australia from Wales, and says 70% of bottles end up in landfill sites rather than being recycled.

He says the people who backed his idea are "not a bunch of greenies", and he denies that the action has deprived people of a choice.

"If there is the odd person who really, genuinely, loves the taste of bottled water - and I can't think why they would - then maybe we have taken away that choice," he said.

"But what we've provided here is more publicly available water than every before.

"I'm not sure how anyone can prefer bottled water to our beautiful filtered water."

There is still some comfort for those who prefer designer water to what comes out of the tap.

Shops are still selling bottles of sparkling and flavoured waters.

Some shopkeepers were initially sceptical about the plan, fearing they would lose money.

To compensate for the lost business, they're selling refillable plastic bottles with the slogan "Bundy On Tap", and because the ban has put Bundanoon on the map, they're proving popular with visitors as well as locals.

Shop owner Lorraine McKintosh said the shops had never promised they would not sell bottled water ever again, but she thought it was best to go along with what their customers had decided.

The idea has gone down well at Bundanoon School.

Principal Robyn Versluis said: "It's the perfect example of thinking globally but acting locally".

Pupil Ella Grier declared: "It's a really big step for a small town. We're really brave to do it."