Arlington Residents Eager To Ban Single-Use Water Bottles

ARLINGTON (CBS) - Water bottles are convenient but are also a big problem for the environment. Which is why some Arlington residents are pushing to pass a ban prohibiting the sale of single-use plastic water bottles.

The ban would apply to any business in Arlington selling bottled water in sizes one liter or less as well as town owned buildings such as public schools. All in efforts to reduce plastic pollution and litter.

"There's microplastics seeping into the ground and then the rainwater carries it into our waterways, gets into the marine life cycle," said Larry Slotnick, co-chair of Zero Waste Arlington.

"Taking water bottles out of the waste stream could be a beneficial change and reduce what we're putting into landfills," said Town Manager Adam Chapdelaine.

Although many are in favor, we asked the town manager if there's been any opposition to the ban.

"I haven't heard that there has been significant problems because it's only water being banned, it's not energy drinks or milk or other beverages you can buy out of a plastic bottle it's only water," said Chapdelaine.

According to Zero Waste Arlington, more than 1.5 billion bottles of water and other non-carbonated beverages are sold in Massachusetts annually and only about 20% get recycled.

"When plastic is thrown away it doesn't disappear whether it's burned or landfilled the chemicals that made that plastic just stay with us forever," said Slotnick.

More than 20 towns in Massachusetts have passed similar bottled water restrictions and Arlington residents are eager to join the list.

"As a town we can make a commitment to provide more filling stations and really model a new way of consuming water that doesn't involve plastic," said resident Lynette Culverhouse.

The town could vote on the ban as early as this Wednesday, but if passed it would not go into effect until November.