The Burnside Blog
Should PDX Ban The Plastic?
How’s this for perspective: When Oregon’s seminal bottle bill was signed into law, Presidential Candidate Barrack Obama was ten years old. That was 1971, and the nation hadn’t seen anything like it. In 2008, ten states have bottle bills, and last year the Oregon legislature voted to expand its own to include plastic water bottles effective January 2009. But is that enough?
Washington doesn’t have a bottle bill to speak of, but the city of Seattle apparently doesn’t need one to lay down its law. Last week, Seattle Mayor Greg Nickels (who makes ours look a park bench) signed an executive order that bans the city from buying it. In the elephantine world of municipal budgets, the $58,000 Seattle will save each year by not buying plastic bottles of water won’t buy much else, but the decision is certainly symbolic. As the Huffington Post reports, it’s more a vote of confidence in the city’s water treatment program. Seattle, like Portland, has some of the cleanest tap water in the country.
According to the EPA, Portland’s water is in fact so clean that it doesn’t need filtration. Of all major US cities, only Louisville Kentucky has cleaner water than PDX. Punitive bans notwithstanding, here’s the real question: Why spend money buying something free and unnecessary?
Other cities haven’t stopped with bottled water. San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom has not only signed an order similar to Seattle’s, he’s also outlawed the use of plastic shopping bags. Although there’s no such ban in place in Portland, local grocery stores have stopped carrying plastic bags. Whole Foods is phasing them out entirely by Earth Day 2008 on April 22nd while Portland’s own New Seasons Market has never offered them.
Putting less plastic in the universe is a worthy goal, but is the demonization of plastic yet another fad? Should Portland adopt similar resolutions?
By Stephen on Monday, March 31, 2008 at 10:18PM PDT
You know, it’s a step, a very small one and got goofy media attention. It doesn’t compare to the bottle bill which affects everyone’s plastic water bottles. The fact that Washington doesn’t have a ‘per se’ bottle bill is deplorable. Potter is a do nothing park bench, but Nichols has proven to be somewhat of a corporate hack, I wouldn’t exchange them.
By boib on Monday, April 07, 2008 at 01:41PM PDT
But hey, he raised the height limits for downtown Seattle. I’m not really sure what that means, since I don’t live there, but I think it counts for something: sell-out or progressive urbanist, I don’t know.
By Eves on Tuesday, April 01, 2008 at 02:27PM PDT
I find it a bit strange that the focus on limiting plastic waste surrounds bottled water. There are thousands more products that create plastic waste. At least right now these bottles are going into recycle bins unlike the countless frivolous cellophane wrappers that go into the garbage.
I’m all for small steps, but bottled water is going to be a hard first step – no matter how small. I recently heard on that weird NPR food show about how gourmet bottled waters are the new fad. These fluids are going for more than a bottle of wine at some restaurants! A quick search found this website: http://www.finewaters.com/ which uses two tactics, fear and luxury to lure people into thinking that tap water is contaminated and that you too can look like a celebrity carrying your bottle of Voss (glass bottle).
And why do people keep saying tap water is free? We all get bills from the Water Bureau charging for water usage. Water is not free, shouldn’t be free and should never be seen as so. That mentality will soon be checked when our politicians catch onto the next “green” fad: diminishing water sources.
By Rachel DeSchepper on Wednesday, April 02, 2008 at 01:53PM PDT
I totally agree that water isn’t free, but according the Christian Science Monitor, municipal water costs 1/2000th of bottled water.
What really gets me is now bottled water companies are trying to make “greener” bottles that use less plastic. Greenwash is right: http://www.treehugger.com/files/2008/02/greenwash_watch_17.php
By Stephen on Tuesday, April 01, 2008 at 10:10PM PDT
You are right, however the vast majority of plastic bottles are not going into recycle bins, they’re going into the trash. I see so many people glued to their water bottles. I’m like, what koolaid did you drink that you think you have to hydrate every 5 minutes out of a plastic bottle that probably leaches toxins. God knows, the FDA has become a mere political pawn, okaying things that are probably not really okay – especially under this corporately friendly administration. And yes, plastics of all kind are being thrown away at an ever increasing rate. I’m amazed when I see new plastic products developed that you simply throw away after each use or flush down the toilet. Give it a slogan and people, buy, buy, buy.
Very few are clued into the global water crises. Maybe we don’t see it yet in Portland but world wide it’s a reality. Coke sets up plants in India, strongholds control over local water supply, bottles it as dasani and tries to sell it back to the local populace, who can’t afford their own water anymore. What do they do, go to free polluted sources. What a gorgeous group of folks we got controlling things. But we buy, buy, buy….
By Mike Thelin on Wednesday, April 02, 2008 at 05:54AM PDT
You’re right Eves. Water is not totally free. We pay for it, but we don’t pay much. Many economists say that water is priced far below what it ought to be.
By Gregory on Wednesday, April 02, 2008 at 08:15AM PDT
Good points all around. To demonize bottled water is a bit short-sided. While yes, it is indeed wasteful. And it certainly shows up in landfills, its consumption is a minute part of the equation. We are a wasteful society that picks tiny battles instead of thinking about the broader and more mindful fight. I hate plastic bottles of water. According to a recent cover story in the Oregonian, the majority is not recycled. And while recycling plastic and other renewables is a good practice, it also requires a lot of energy that could have been saved had a person invested in a good water filter and refilled his or her Nalgene bottle.
By Stephen on Wednesday, April 02, 2008 at 12:18PM PDT
I disagree, to demonize plastic water bottles hits at the very core of American consumer practices. Last year American’s spent of 8 billion on them and tossed over 22 billion plastic bottles away. The bottles contain (PET) resin, if used more than once can leach DEHA, a known carcinogen and benzyl butyl phthalate (BBP), a potential hormone disrupter. Those numbers are pretty alarming, however it is a huge and growing industry, not just here but worldwide.
Water is essential for human life and access to pure forms should be elemental in societies. I think analyzing true costs of water becomes tricky and needs to be monitored carefully. In the third world, water is being privatized as a condition for international loans, pricing it out of the reach for the poorest.
By D L'Beat on Monday, March 31, 2008 at 01:18PM PDT
Last year it was trans fat, the year before it was foie gras, and now it’s plastic. Maybe yuppie dipshits can feel good enough about themselves by “putting less plastic into the universe” as you say, that they’ll fly to Costa Rica for an eco-tourism retreat or drive their SUV to their new LEED-certified condo. This whole green thing is just a bunch of crap.
By Rachel DeSchepper on Monday, March 31, 2008 at 02:19PM PDT
Ah, D L’Beat, I beg to differ. It’s got nothing to do with feeling good about yourself. We practically HAVE to create legislation to keep people from being stupid and drinking only bottled water, when tap water is perfectly fine. It’s not only a waste of money (but that’s your problem not mine), but a gratuitous waste of resources (and that is my problem, along with everyone else’s).
Only “yuppie dipshits” would find something wrong with steps to create less waste and try to keep a bunch of unnecessary plastic out of landfills.
Read this, and then tell me it’s just a yuppie issue and we’re all full of crap: http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/117/features-message-in-a-bottle.html
By Valkraider on Monday, March 31, 2008 at 09:42PM PDT
Every bit of plastic ever made still exists.
http://incursio.blogspot.com/2007/06/every-bit-of-plastic-ever-made-still.html
By eileen on Tuesday, April 01, 2008 at 02:12PM PDT
Thanks DL, for that hate-laced dose of head-in-sand dismissal. Since you’re the judger here, and credibility is at stake, I assume you own property in Love Canal and Centralia, PA?
By X-man on Friday, April 04, 2008 at 09:03AM PDT
Wrong. Well, you got the part about dumb yuppies driving their SUVs down to eco-tours in Costa Rica. However, how would YOU suggest we begin to right our wrongs. Ban the plastic bottles, bags and other unnecessaries. Ban the SUVs. Stop building highways for polluting and congestion-causing autos. Ban all inhumane and unsustainable activity, not just foie-gras.
Lastly, ban the trans-fats because the general public is too stupid to know corporate USA would kill it to get at its money and too stupid to take care of themselves. Look in the mirror D L’Beat. The ignoramous in you is showing ;-)