I saw this letter, sent to both the Guelph Mercury and The Guelph Tribune, this week and I must say that the letter writer does make some good points. I have found some hypocrisy within the anti-bottled-water movement that they only target those filling plastic bottles with water and have no problem with plastic bottles filled with any other kind of liquid. If you’re against plastic bottles, then be against all plastic bottles. That just makes more sense. Obviously, the issue is that they (The big evil water bottling companies) are taking a “natural resource” and that’s what’s upsetting those heavily opposed to the industry. Remember, I’m not a fan of bottled water either. Don’t get me wrong here, I bought a SIGG reusable bottle last year and my whole family now tries it’s best to use it. But be consistant Mr. and Mrs Activists, don’t buy any other liquid in plastic bottles if you are so dead against it. I have found myself looking in the mirror and trying to challenge myself to not do that but it’s hard to do. When I do buy bottled water (yeah i do sometimes folks, I’m a normal human being that likes choice and I’d rather buy a bottled water 4 times a year on a long road trip than pop.) I at least recycle it. And this is were there’s a huge problem with us humans, we aren’t recycling these things! If the stats as indicated by the letter writer are true regarding the program in Quebec, than shouldn’t we be doing everything we can to recycle these things? Especially if Nestle would be willing to provide the infrastructure to do it! Well, here’s the letter below for you to read. A response from the City of Guelph would be nice. What are your thoughts?
LETTER TO THE EDITOR: GUELPH TRIBUNE JULY 8TH, 2009
I read with interest the article about banning the use of bottled water in Riverside Park on Canada Day that appeared in the June 30 edition of the Guelph Tribute entitled, “No plastic water bottles at park.”
Beyond the fact that neither the Rotary Club of Guelph nor the City of Guelph has the authority to ban the use of a legal, healthful product like bottled water in a public park, the effect of that effort was the trading of one piece of plastic for another piece of plastic. As evidenced by the contents of the garbage cans on Canada Day (and we monitored them), most visitors to the park purchased other beverages found in plastic bottles when bottled water was eliminated as a hydration option. Given that soft drinks outsell bottled water by a 2:1 margin, one would expect that there would always be more pop cans and bottles found in the garbage — or a recycling bin — than water bottles. Those beverages weren’t targeted by those concerned about plastic beverage container waste. Yet, bottled water was.
This matter could have been avoided. Last October, Nestlé Waters Canada proposed a pilot public spaces recycling program to the city for the Sleeman Centre. The city asked us to revise our proposal in January to include the Guelph Lake Sports Complex. We did and submitted the revised proposal in February.
That proposal would have seen the implementation of a highly successful methodology that captures recyclables typically found in Ontario’s Blue Box program that are abandoned by consumers in park spaces, recreational facilities like arenas, streetscapes, transit stops, bars and restaurants, elementary and secondary schools, convenience stores and gas stations. Those recyclables include aluminum, plastic, glass and newsprint.
Established by Nestlé Waters Canada and its industry partners in Quebec a year ago, public spaces recycling is achieving recovery rates as high as 85 percent. Through public education campaigns and citizen participation, the initiative is augmenting the province’s existing curbside program by increasing recycling rates. Ontario’s first pilot is now underway in Sarnia.
We would have funded the cost of purchasing recycling bins for both the Sleeman Centre and Guelph Lake Sport Complex as part of the pilot. We would have been responsible for the overall management of the project. There would have been little or no cost assumed by Guelph taxpayers. If asked, we would have considered extending the program to include Riverside Park so that a meaningful environmental initiative could be demonstrated there on Canada Day, rather than the environmental symbolism and highly questionable community policy we witnessed last week.
We await the city’s response to our proposal.
John B. Challinor Nestlé Waters Canada
StopNestleWaters.org said,
July 11, 2009 @ 9:52 pm
“Obviously, the issue is that they (The big evil water bottling companies) are taking a “natural resource” and that’s what’s upsetting those heavily opposed to the industry.”
Clearly, that’s not “the” issue for many of us, and you do those of us who oppose Nestle and other water bottlers a disservice.
First, there’s no hypocrisy in calling for taxpayer dollars to not be spent on bottled water. Municipalities have invested heavily in water infrastructure, so banning bottled water purchases simply saves taxpayer dollars.
Second, Nestle’s commitment to recycling (as evidenced in the letter from Challinor) only seems to flower when the company is threatened with municipal bans. There has been little in the way of curbside recycling support in the United States, and moreover, isn’t curbside recycling of discard water bottles simply a way for Nestle to externalize one of the biggest costs of using its product?
Their stance seems to be that it’s better to make plastic bottles and then recycle some of them instead of not making them in the first place – and don’t forget we’re talking about a product that comes out of most faucets already.
The simple truth Mr. Challinor overlooks in his letter is that beverages in other plastic bottles – soda, etc – don’t come out faucets, nor are they essential to life.
Suggesting I’m a hypocrite because I oppose Nestle’s predatory approach to small rural communities and repeated attempts to use legal intimidation and strong-arm tactics in those same communities is – dare I say it – missing the point entirely.
I am no fan of bottled water, but I’m even less of a fan of a multinational that intentionally splits communities using divisive rhetoric, its money, and its sledge-hammer legal tactics.