I'd Tap That - Richmond Against Bottled Water presents a proposal for increased implementation of water refill stations in Richmond, B.C.. What are water refill stations? Enhanced water-fountain-like structures that allow for increased accessibility to tap water and convenient refilling of water bottles in public areas. Why? The manufacture and recycling processes of bottled water contribute to high levels of greenhouse gas emissions, environmental damage, water contamination, and significant health concerns, which can be avoided by drinking Greater Vancouver’s clean, fresh, and free tap water. More water refill stations increases a citizen's incentive to bring their reusable water bottle out, knowing that they have convenient access to drinking water within the city.
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Think Global, Drink Local Proposal for Increased Implementation of Water Refill Stations in Richmond Community Facilities Project Leaders: Lilian Lau, Elizabeth To, Cherrie Lam University of British Columbia http://tinyurl.com/idtapthatrichmond http://facebook.com/idtapthatrichmond Think it’s okay to drink bottled water because you’ll recycle it? Think again. The manufacture and recycling processes of bottled water contribute to high levels of greenhouse gas emissions, environmental damage, water contamination, and significant health concerns, which can be avoided by drinking Greater Vancouver’s clean, fresh, and free tap water. We initiated I’d Tap That – Richmond Against Bottled Water, aiming to (1) educate the public on the negative impacts of bottled water, (2) press for more water bottle filling stations in public areas, and (3) push for policy to create bottled-water-free zones in Richmond schools, where bottled water sales will be banned.
Transcript
Think Global,
Drink Local
Proposal for Increased
Implementation of
Water Refill Stations
in Richmond
Community Facilities
Project Leaders:
Lilian Lau, Elizabeth To,
Cherrie Lam
University of British Columbia
http://tinyurl.com/idtapthatrichmond
http://facebook.com/idtapthatrichmond
Think it’s okay to drink
bottled water because you’ll
recycle it? Think again.
The manufacture and recycling processes of bottled
water contribute to high levels of greenhouse gas
emissions, environmental damage, water
contamination, and significant health concerns, which
can be avoided by drinking Greater Vancouver’s clean,
fresh, and free tap water.
We initiated I’d Tap That – Richmond Against
Bottled Water, aiming to (1) educate the public on
the negative impacts of bottled water, (2) press for
more water bottle filling stations in public areas,
and (3) push for policy to create bottled-water-free
zones in Richmond schools, where bottled water
sales will be banned.
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Table of Contents
About Us
At Issue
At Issue: The Microeconomics
Executive Summary
Richmond community facilities should install more water refill
stations! Here’s why
o Water refill stations benefit Richmond
o Recycling doesn’t cut it; The Stats
o What do we mean by water refill stations? Upgrading
current fountains
Novanni’s Elkay EZH2O Bottle Filling Stations
Waterfillz Indoor Stationary Refill Stations and
Mobile Events Refill Stations
Other retro-fitting options: Spout and Gooseneck
o We know there are obstacles
It’s expensive! Maybe we can help
“Bottled water disposal only contributes a
negligible amount to waste”; we say otherwise
o Reducing bottled water is possible
Richmond secondary schools are on board
I’d Tap That is reaching the community
Local support against bottled water
We want more water refill stations!
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About Us Hello! Lilian, Elizabeth, Ricky, and I (Cherrie) are four UBC students
currently working on an Advocacy Based Learning project for our
second-year Microeconomic Policy class at UBC. Inspired by
previous high school involvements in Metro Vancouver's Youth4Tap
Initiative, we started I’d Tap That – Richmond Against Bottled Water, an environmental group striving to make a change in our
community, while applying our microeconomics education in
action. With the collaboration of many secondary schools in
Richmond, as well as community partners like Metro Vancouver
regional water services, I’d Tap That plans to deter the negative
impacts of the bottled water industry; hoping to raise awareness to
encourage further consumption of tap water, and to implement
more water bottle filling stations in Richmond.
At Issue Greater Vancouver's taps serve some of the highest quality water in the world; in
fact, the water is tested over 370 times a day with state-of-the-art-filtration systems,
and Metro Vancouver guarantees that there is no need for extra filtration at home.
With such readily accessible clean water, the production and consumption of bottled
water has become of high concern, because the manufacture and recycling
processes contribute to greenhouse gas emissions, environmental damage, and
even water contamination through toxins leaked by the manufacture process.
Moreover, only an average of 5% of water bottles actually gets recycled. As well, the
regulation of bottled water by the Food and Drug Act is much more lenient than that
provided by the BC Drinking Water Protection Act and BC Drinking Water Protection
Regulation, meaning that consumers of bottled water could be exposing themselves
to health risks, as the Food and Drug Act allows certain levels of fecal coliform, while
the local tap water regulations do not. According to Metro Vancouver’s 2009 Tap
Water Campaign, a 20% reduction in bottled water consumption can divert 7 million
bottles from local landfills; 3.35 million kilograms of greenhouses gases; and
12,800 barrels of crude oil used.
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At Issue: The Microeconomics The sale of bottled water creates market inefficiency, because the less expensive and
regularly-tested local water is of equal or even better quality. Companies have falsely
marketed bottled water to be cleaner and more convenient; which deters consumer
confidence on local water supply, and allows corporations to take advantage and impose
unnecessary high prices. The industry also generates negative externalities, imposing
environmental and health problems. In order to reach Richmond’s zero waste goals,
bottled water consumption needs to be reduced.
Executive Summary
We plan to reduce the consumption of disposable bottled water in the City of
Richmond, involving a three-pronged approach, followed by evaluation:
1. EDUCATION: Raise awareness and educate the public on tap water’s
benefits. I’d Tap That has been connecting with high school students to
initiate awareness projects and has generated social media presence.
2. ACCESSIBILITY: Add more water refill stations in community facilities for
higher convenience of drinking tap water.
3. POLICY: Implement policy to ban the sale of bottled water on public
municipal properties, like schools and community centers.
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Richmond Community
Facilities should install
more water refill
stations! Here’s why:
Water Refill Stations Benefit Richmond
With zero-waste goals ahead in Richmond, installing water refill stations will not
only reduce energy that is necessary to manufacture bottled water, but also
significantly divert waste (of discarded bottles), and protect the environment. As
well, water refill stations are a sustainable service, do not require significant
maintenance, and can make a big difference in the community.
Recycling Doesn’t Cut it; The Stats
According to Metro Vancouver:
Recycling doesn’t mean old disposable bottles become new disposable
bottles. A majority of single-use PET plastic bottles are down-cycled and
will only be used as degraded components. This means that new plastic
bottles are made from non-renewable resources, like non-biodegradable
PET plastic.
PET from crude oil and PET from plants are essentially identical – just plain old PET.
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Around 20% of plastic that goes through recycling is not recyclable, and
needs to be buried or burned.
It takes ¼ of a plastic bottle’s worth of oil to produce one plastic bottle. It
takes more water to produce a plastic bottle than the volume of the bottle itself.
The manufacture and transportation of bottled water in BC in 2007 emitted
between 12,922,578 and 16,766,604 kgs of greenhouse gases – enough to
heat an average Canadian home for 2,177 years.
According to Encorp Pacific recycling reports:
Around 158,675,107 plastic containers ended up in landfills in 2011,
which is enough to fill 77,329 full-size pickup trucks.
According to the Polaris Institute report:
Bottled water is 240 – 10,000 times more expensive than tap water,
despite more than 25% of bottled water coming from local tap water systems.
Bottled water has manufactured demand; just as the executive of Perrier
commented, “It struck me… that all you had to do is take the water out of
the ground and then sell it for more than the price of wine, milk, or for that
matter, oil.”
Bottled water plants are typically inspected by government once every 3 – 6 years; while Metro Vancouver tests our water 136,000 times each year.
Arsenic, mercury and bromides have been detected in bottled water.
Schools and universities are increasingly signing exclusive beverage contracts with major companies like Coca-Cola and Pepsi; companies with
corporate agendas to turn students into life-long consumers.
(Source of statistics: Shifting to Sustainable Drinking Water - https://circle.ubc.ca/bitstream/
