Both my neighborhood and community are notorious for the many bottles and cans scattering the grounds. The only answer to this is the lack of community-owned garbage cans and the vast empty ground to litter upon.
These sort of images make me ponder over just how lazy we've become. So when I heard the new bylaw set by Concord, I was ecstatic that someone had the right idea going.
This bylaw set in stone largely through the leadership of Jean Hill states, "It shall be unlawful to sell non-sparkling, unflavored drinking water in single-serving polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles of 1 liter (34 ounces) or less in the Town of Concord on or after January 1, 2013."
Now while this law still allows for the purchase of multiple water bottles at a time, or the purchase of a plastic bottle that is larger than 1L, it still is many steps ahead of the nation.
The ban will fine stores that don't abide to the following rule. Even with all the loopholes present in this bylaw, there is a guaranteed decrease in the amount of water bottles sold whether big or small.
To set a good example to the nation, it'd be a great idea for large, populous cities like Los Angeles, Miami, or New York to implement laws similar to this and set a trend in motion. It is definitely small acts like this that add to bigger picture of a more environmentally-friendly environment.
While some people might contradict such a law because of its "uselessness" there will be those who will become thankful, or even inspired to do something as well to benefit the environment.
As long as people don't resort to sparkling or flavored water to get single plastic bottles, there will be a positive impact on the environment. And we can only hope for other cities/states to follow their footsteps. May we all get pristine sidewalks to walk upon!
