Residents have until April 15 to respond to a survey from the Mayor’s office that asks residents about their disposable and reusable water bottle use. The city council is currently considering eliminating the sale of single use plastic water bottles from Newton. If passed, the ordinance would prohibit the sale of plastic bottles of non-carbonated, non-flavored water in sizes of 1 liter or less.
Still available would be:
- carbonated, flavored, and vitamin-enriched water. (Anything other than plain water)
- non-carbonated water sold in glass or aluminum containers of any size, or in plastic containers over 1 liter in size.
More than 1.5 billion beverage bottles are sold each year in Massachusetts, and only around 20% get recycled. The rest end up as litter or in landfills and incinerators which pollute our air and water. Discarded plastic destroys habitats, harms wildlife, and affects public health by contaminating the food chain and entering our bodies as microplastics.
We can’t recycle our way out of the single-use plastic pollution crisis—the solution is to reduce and reuse. Water in single use bottles are easily replaced with reusable and refillable water bottles.
The mayor is asking residents to weigh in on removing the sale of single use water bottles from Newton. Please take the survey and let her know how you feel.
Unlike glass and metal, plastic cannot be repeatedly recycled without quickly degrading in quality. The World Economic Forum published these recycling statistics of 2022:
1. Of the 40 million tons of plastic waste generated in the U.S. in 2021, only 5% to 6% — or about two million tons — was recycled.
2. Between 2019 and 2020, there was a 5.7% overall decrease in plastics recovered for recycling in the U.S. That is the equivalent of 290 million pounds.
3. Approximately 36% of all plastic produced is used to create packaging, 85% of which ends up in landfills.
4. About 98% of single-use plastic products are made from fossil fuels.
5. Globally, we produce about 400 million tons of plastic waste yearly.
6. Until recently, the U.S. outsourced a significant portion of its plastic, but import bans in countries like China and Turkey have fueled a decline in recycling.
7. The total bottle recycling rate for 2020 was 27.2%, down from 28.7% in 2019.
8. Every hour, 2.5 million plastic bottles are thrown away in the U.S.
9. Between 75 and 199 million tons of plastic are currently in our oceans.
10. Plastic bottles take upwards of 450 years to degrade.
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