Grand Canyon's Plastic Water Bottle Ban

GRAND CANYON NATIONAL PARK, Ariz. -- Disposable plastic water bottles soon won't be sold at the Grand Canyon.

The National Park Service announced Monday that it has approved a plan to eliminate the sale of the bottles within 30 days. They make up about 20 percent of the park's waste and 30 percent of recyclables.

Visitors can fill up reusable containers at water stations, though the ban doesn't keep them from bringing disposable bottles into the park.

Park Service director Jon Jarvis had nixed a bottle ban at the Grand Canyon in late 2010. A former park superintendent had raised suspicion that the Coca-Cola Co, a major water bottle producer, unduly influenced the Park Service. But the agency and Coca-Cola denied that.

Jarvis recently released a national policy outlining how park superintendents could institute a ban.

Comments

[stevenak]

08:52 AM on 02/09/2012

If I can't buy a water bottle, then where do I get water? :)

[tjohnson]

05:14 AM on 02/09/2012

Good!

Nearly all plastic bottles should be replaced. Recycling should NOT be our fist choice.

Reduce
Reuse
Recycle

We do the three "R's" the other way around. Completely upside down!

Even IF most people recycled it cost a lot of money and uses a lot of energy. Glass, returnable bottles, should be the standard.

[wtf is this]

11:39 PM on 02/08/2012

Very good concept.
But I was at the north rim once & they recommended not drinking the tap water (might've been a temporary issue). Does that mean you're left with soda as a choice? Or would they sell gallon jugs?
& if they're not selling water, are they still selling sodas in plastic bottles? Don't those have the same issue? Make it a ban on anything in a plastic bottle if the goal is to reduce the waste? Otherwise your'e just encouraging someone to buy soda instead of water. Not a smart move....

[Moose Luck 99]

07:40 PM on 02/08/2012

In stunning show of bureaucratic idiocy, EU directive bans health claim that water prevents dehydration!

(NaturalNews) The collection of medically-indoctrinated idiots known as the European Food Standards Authority has officially disallowed a product health claim that says water prevents dehydration.

This means the EU does not even recognize the therapeutic ability of water to reverse chronic dehydration. It makes you wonder: If water cannot treat dehydration, then what would they use instead? Vaccines?

The claim that was denied by the EFSA stated that "regular consumption of significant amounts of water can reduce the risk of development of dehydration." This claim was submitted to the EFSA by consultants who advise food and beverage companies (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/eu/8897662/EU-bans-claim...). They wanted to see if such a commonsense claim would be recognized by the EFSA. It's kind of an "IQ test" for the EFSA, you see.

Learn more: http://www.naturalnews.com/034204_water_dehydration.html#ixzz1lqBLiYFw

[FlyingPhotog]

12:10 PM on 02/08/2012

Every "Cousin Eddie" that takes the fam to the Canyon for a cheap family vacay is still going to bring their own cooler full of bottled water. The only real accomplishment here is that the National Park Service is now depriving itself if the revenue that was there from selling water within the park.

[Moose Luck 99]

07:44 PM on 02/08/2012

Why get the revenue if they charge for taking stuff out too?

http://aircrap.org/world-chemtrail-alzheimers/333840/

[framah]

10:54 AM on 02/08/2012

Anyone remember canteens???
They have a screw cap on them and a strap for over the body and you can carry more than one?
Try your local army surplus store.

[wtf is this]

11:36 PM on 02/08/2012

They also sell them at the grand canyon gift shop!

[lambdin1]

10:08 AM on 02/08/2012

Good! I do not know how Amerca got along without bottled water before?!? Plastic bottles are everywhere! Landfills etc.. Bottling companies are laughing all the way to the bank!! We can thank all those people who want to be cool!

[KIVPossum]

05:00 AM on 02/08/2012

Good. They should be banned in all Nat'l Parks and Forests

[ECJIM 3ABTPA BONHA]

02:17 AM on 02/08/2012

Good to here the bottle sales are out....We really need to get rid of those things planet wide...there nothing but trouble, nothing good comes from them and they just make people lazy. Buy yourself a aluminum water bottle and just fill it up before you go...it's that simple. Bottle water is a rip off and your only paying for convenience, It's not extra filtered....or from a mountain stream. I believe filling up even a gallon of water through the tap is pennies on the dollar vs buying a 1-3 dollar 12oz bottle of water..doesn't make sense.

[tjconkster]

08:38 PM on 02/07/2012

Nice...the only reason to travel to Arizona just got better! OK I like the Flagstaff area also....the San Fransiscos are fun to hike...

[cdeblake]

07:55 PM on 02/07/2012

As long as we're this selfish about our beloved plastic bottled beverages, we'll never solve this. What an uproar there was from beverage companies when a tax was proposed this past year! If dead poodles washed up on shores all over the world, would we give them any more thought than we do the whales, dolphins, otters, etc., that die after ingesting the plastic bottle and styrofoam waste that ends up in the sea? Probably not! Give some thought to the energy, power and chemicals that go into plastic package production and recycling. Tack on $1 to each bottle at point of purchase. Would we change? Your bottles -- your call.

[chemENG]

05:09 PM on 02/07/2012

Water bottles should be taxed and used to pay for a widespread drinking fountain system using refillable recyled glass bottles. The amount of wasted energy and materials ( both hydrocarbon fueled) that goes into creating the water bottles, shipping them and disposing of them is an absurdly unsustainably business/manufacturing model. We must create sustainable industries and eliminate this type of unsustainable capitalism across the board.

[mj jp]

07:12 PM on 02/07/2012

The plastic is recyclable so it is not unsustainable. In fact it is the opposite. Do you realize how many jobs are at stake when you eliminate bottled water? Drinking fountains are notoriously contaminated with bacteria and filth because some people don't know how to use or drink from one. Didn't you ever see someone french kissing a fountain when they drink? Sorry to burst your bubble but I think fining someone for improper disposal or better yet put a return fee on the bottle so it gets properly placed is a much better idea.

[wanderthewest]

03:31 PM on 02/08/2012

"it is not unsustainable"...if everyone recycled them, they still would not be sustainable, because plastic also can't be recycled ad infinitum, and recycling itself is energy intensive. Not making trash in the first place > Recycling > not recycling.

People can fill up their own water bottle out a faucet.

We could also just hire people to straight up throw trash into ditches, if we need to have jobs for the sake of jobs, and we care nothing of the impacts. If people are germ-phobes, maybe jobs will be created to make products to calm them down.

[greengrl]

10:50 AM on 02/09/2012

As others have noted, plastic bottles are NOT sustainable and cannot be continually recycled like glass or aluminum. Also, they are plastic.....you know petroleum products, which means they add to our reliance on foreign oil. As for workers in the bottle water industry, sustaining an industry that is horrible for our environment for the sake of our economy will destroy us in the end...think big oil! Finally on your germs issue, I'm sure we can provide a clean technology for dispensing public water....just put those bottle water employees to work developing it! Personally, I'm not a germaphobe and have no problem with public fountains.

[campcranston]

04:57 PM on 02/07/2012

That's incredible, they can reduce 20% of waste and 30% of recycling with a single exclusion. Looks like things are going the right way.

[Durango]

04:10 PM on 02/07/2012

I refill used plastic bottles with tap water. I find they are just about the right size that you can drink the water before it gets warm. Don't buy the bottles. Just find them and wash them out.

[cmacattack]

04:57 PM on 02/07/2012

You're better off buying an aluminum or BPA free plastic water bottle. Chemicals from the plastic leach into the water you are drinking as the plastic quickly begins to break down. The plastic used for water bottles are cheap and only made for one time use. Re-using them is equivalent to drinking dirty stream water.

[grod805]

01:18 AM on 02/09/2012

You find water bottles and you wash them? Like from the trash without knowing who was drinking out of them? Are you sure that's safe?

I've been using an aluminum water bottle for two years now, I got it as a gift but I don't think it cost over $30 and its great. I probably have used it every single day since I got it.

[Wanderland]

03:18 PM on 02/07/2012

OMG! Fill our own non-disposable water bottles??? It's beneath my dignity, I say! I want my country back!

[Durango]

04:10 PM on 02/07/2012

They are taking way your freedom.

[campcranston]

04:54 PM on 02/07/2012

I'm sorry, what freedom was that? All they said was that they will not sell water bottles in the park, you're more than welcome to bring your own.

[cmacattack]

04:58 PM on 02/07/2012

them dang darn pesky liburals