Should bottled water be banned?


Pro- Banning bottled water would reduce waste and protect the environment.

Majority of plastic bottles end up in landfills as shown by the statistic “About 70% of plastic water bottles bought in the United States are not recycled, might end up in ocean or landfill.” conducted by food and water watch website. Plastic bottles also often end up in the ocean harming the ecosystem and poisoning animals.
 A nationwide ban on bottled water would lead to an estimated 68 billion fewer plastic water bottles being manufactured, purchased, used, and discarded therefore less plastic in ocean > less waste > better protected environment.
 2012 and 2016, a ban on plastic water bottles in 23 US National Parks prevented (per year) up to 2 million plastic water bottles being purchased and up to 111,743 pounds of PET being produced.

However A study on the University of Vermont's ban on selling single-use plastic water bottles found that total shipments of plastic bottles actually increased 20% as consumers increased their consumption of less healthy bottled beverages rather than switching to using reusable bottles and drinking from water fountains.



CON- Other types of beverages have plastic containers that are more harmful than plastic water bottles, and bans don't necessarily reduce waste.

Plastic water bottles contain much less polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastic than soft drink bottles that require a thicker plastic container due to the drinks' carbonation – 9.89 grams of PET compared to 23.9 grams.

A study by Quantis, commissioned by Nestlé Waters, found that the packaging and distribution of "sports drinks, enhanced waters and soda produce nearly 50% more carbon dioxide emissions per serving than bottled water." > More waste caused by plastic drinks bottles

Plastic water bottles make up 3.3% of all drink packaging in US landfills, which is less than both plastic carbonated soft drink containers (13.3%) and aluminum cans (7.9%). Majority of waste is as seen caused by not Plastic water bottles > majority of environmental damage is caused by other sources of plastic.

However a ban on plastic water bottles in 23 US National Parks prevented (per year) up to 2 million plastic water bottles being purchased and up to 111,743 pounds of PET being produced. Shows how a ban can be effective in reducing the quanity of PET produced.