Aussie Town Bans Plastic Water Bottles
In what may be the first ban of its kind in the world, a rural Australian town has banned plastic water bottles.
Campaigners in Bundanoon (population 2,500) in New South Wales, were incensed after a beverage company proposed plans to tap an underground reservoir in the town, then bottle and sell the water.
Over 350 residents turned out to vote for the measure. Only 1 resident voted against the ban, along with a representative from the bottled water industry.
One campaigner, John Dee, told the BBC,
The company has been looking to extract water locally, bottle it in Sydney and bring it back here to sell it. It made people look at the environmental impact of bottled water and the community has been quite vocal about it.
We believe Bundanoon is the world’s first town that has got its retailers to ban bottled water. We haven’t found it anywhere else.
Now, all local businesses will stop selling plastic water bottles.
