Plastic-Bottled Water Ban On The Horizon In Montreal?

Not long after announcing his city's intention to ban single-use plastic bags by 2018, Montreal mayor Denis Coderre has indicated that banning plastic-bottled water may be next.

Bottled water has long been decried for its heavy environmental footprint. Not only is it unnecessary where safe and effective municipal systems exist, plastic bottles create an enormous amount of waste. The costs of disposing of and recycling bottles falls largely on municipalities as opposed to producers. These producers often pay next to nothing to extract the water from local aquifers (thereby contributing to their depletion) despite make huge profits from bottling and selling it. The manufacturing and transportation of plastic bottles creates greenhouse gas emissions.