WORKPLACE FOOD AND ACTIVITY ENVIRONMENT
ENACT STRATEGY: Water
Provide water to drink; have clean sources of tap water and/or working water fountains
As concern for the environment and human health grows, workplaces, local government, and other institutions are discouraging the use and sale of bottled water and ensuring that clean sources of tap water are available for staff and visitors. Bottled water carries a high environmental cost including increased air pollution from transportation and toxic emissions from plastic production. Plastic water bottles are also one of the fastest growing sources of municipal waste; only 23% of bottles are recycled, most end up in a landfill. Municipal tap water in the United States is more tightly regulated than bottled water, and is delivered through an energy-efficient infrastructure.
This fact sheet from Salt Lake City’s Mayor’s Office highlights the economic and environmental costs of bottled water.
More details on the costs and impact of bottled water by the Responsible Purchasing Network.
This article by Polaris Institute describes how three of the biggest employers in Oakland and Berkeley – UC Berkeley, Clorox, and CH2M Hill – have used various strategies to encourage employees to use tap water at work instead of bottled water.
Bottled Water Bans and Back- to-the-Tap Initiatives
A comprehensive list complied by Earth Policy Institute summarizes back-to-tap initiatives going on at all levels: cities, counties, states, national campaigns, schools, restaurants, and religious organizations. Scroll down for examples of six companies or agencies banning bottled water at work.
Mayor Rocky Anderson of Salt Lake City stated that “the environmental impacts surrounding the production, shipment and disposal of bottled water do not fit within the city’s goal to conduct itself in an environmentally sustainable way.” He has urged city departments to stop buying bottled water and created a Knock Out Bottled Water campaign where individuals or restaurants can take the pledge to turn on the tap.
The City of Toronto gave away 20,000 reusable sports bottles with a label reading “Fill With Toronto’s Quality Tap Water.” The City also serves jugs of tap water at council meetings and press conferences.
Community Organizing Package: Ideas and Tools for a Campaign Challenging the Bottled Water Industry
This community organizing kit can be used to build a campaign to challenge the bottled water industry. The kit includes ideas and tools for encouraging organizations and businesses to ban bottled water and creating a campaign to convince your local government to stop purchasing and distributing bottled water. The site also offers language for a sample bottled water ban.
Responsible Purchasing Guide: Bottled Water
This guide, produced by the Responsible Purchasing Network, provides information on the impacts of bottled water and the responsible strategies that institutions have used in their bottled water purchasing decisions.
This article by Earth Policy Institute follows the momentum against bottled water from San Francisco to Paris. The Institute also provides a comprehensive list of bottled water bans and back to tap initiatives in governments, workplaces, schools, and restaurants in the U.S. and abroad.
San Francisco Executive Directive to Phase Out Bottled Water Purchases
San Francisco Mayor, Gavin Newsom, signed Executive Directive 07-07, which outlines a three-phase policy to prohibit any city department from purchasing bottled water using city funds.
U.S. Mayors: Importance of Municipal Water
The U.S. Conference of Mayors passed a resolution (p.160) that highlights the importance of municipal water and calls for a study of the impact of bottled water on city waste.
The City of Ann Arbor passed a resolution to promote the city’s tap water and banned serving commercially bottled water at city council functions.
Santa Clara County Water District Bans Bottled Water
The Santa Clara Valley Water District's departments stopped buying bottled water five years ago, but continued to allow the sale of bottled water in vending machines. In September, 2007, the board passed a measure banning all sales of bottled water in Water District offices that they hope will encourage people to consider the economic and environmental benefits of drinking tap water over bottled water.
City of Burbank Bottled Water Policy
Burbank’s new bottled water policy directs city employees to use tap water during official meetings and City Hall proceedings as a way to cuts costs and to encourage sustainability.
“Inside the Bottle is a Polaris Institute project designed to stimulate citizen awareness about the bottled water industry.”
The Think Outside the Bottle Campaign is “the collective effort of major national organizations, cities, prominent people, communities of faith, student groups, and concerned consumers across North America.” Think Outside the Bottle encourages consumers to choose tap over bottled water and support the efforts of local elected officials to do the same at the city, state, and national level.
Responsible Purchasing Network
“The Responsible Purchasing Network (RPN) is a national network of procurement-related professionals dedicated to socially responsible and environmentally sustainable purchasing.”
A report by Food and Water Watch outlines the public health and environmental problems with bottled water.
