“It’s good to see common sense and reasonable public policies prevail in the defeat of this unnecessary and over-reaching measure,” said Joe Doss, president and CEO of the International Bottled Water Association (IBWA). “We commend the citizens of Concord for recognising the importance of bottled water as a safe, healthy, convenient beverage. We also want to thank the Northeast Bottled Water Association (NEBWA) and Concord-based businesses for their tireless efforts in alerting Concord voters to the effects on the local economy of a total prohibition of sale of bottled water.”
IBWA also commends the Retail Association of Massachusetts, who agreed that banning bottled water would hurt local merchants and burden Concord taxpayers.
In addition, IBWA recognises the effort made by the Concord Board of Health and Emerson Hospital in Concord, who sent individual letters opposing the ban, citing public health issues if bottled water wasn’t readily available to its citizens.
With this vote, Concord residents have sent a clear message that they care about the availability of bottled water as a matter of consumer choice, health and safety.
The Town of Concord faced an influx of attention from anti-bottled water activists seeking total bans on bottled water sales. Among the groups supporting the losing case for prohibition of bottled water were Food and Water Watch and Corporate Accountability International.
A second, non-binding proposal seeking to ‘educate’ Concord voters on the environmental issues surrounding bottled water did pass. Unfortunately, the measure doesn’t include language that would address all plastic containers from all beverages and other sources.
According to the US Environmental Protection Agency, bottled water containers make up just one third of 1% of the entire US waste stream. Therefore, any efforts to reduce the environmental impact of plastic packaging must include all consumer goods.
Source: IBWA
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