In a nationwide first, the San Francisco airport has banned the sale of single-use plastic water bottles effective August 20th. The airport move comes into compliance with a city ordinance passed in 2014 that bans such bottles from being sold on city-owned property.
- Customers can use airport water refilling stations. I like the concept, but I don’t trust airports to keep them properly serviced, clean, and germ-free.
- Some vendors will move to glass bottles, which are still permitted, and plastic-free re-usable bottles. Personally I’m a fan of the single use heavy paper bottles in American Airlines clubs.
Southwest Airlines Could Sell Canned Water Throughout the Airport
Currently airport vendors sell about 4 million bottles of water per year. The airport hasn’t articulated a penalty for non-compliance, though that shouldn’t be an issue for any vendor looking to renew their lease.
Flavored waters are exempt from the rule, which applies to “restaurants, cafes and vending machines” throughout the airport.
Don’t know why more places don’t require a deposit–based on weight, minimum of 2 cents per plastic bag–on single-use plastic items. A pound of plastic bags would net you two dollars. Same for the plastic bottles. (Here in Mexico plastic grocery bags are recycled, cut into thin strips and twisted into twine–great for landscaping purposes, as the twine eventually disintegrates under the sun and rain). Plastic items could be redeemed at the local supermarket in the automatic bins, like they do in Germany. Litter would be cleaned up in a jiffy, and recycling would skyrocket.
A quick Google search will show you exactly where items put into recycle bins actually end up.
I feel like I’ve read the answer before, but why is canned water unpopular? It appeases environmentalists (that could be all of us) while preserving most of the convenience.
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Sometimes I don’t want to get diabetes by drinking Pepsi. Why is SFO forcing me to buy Pepsi instead of bottled water. Bottled water is sometimes needed on the plane to brush teeth or drink. It’s not like bottled water at home.
What San Francisco needs to do is get rid of those needles on the sidewalk.
While they are at it, why not introduce a 50% city income tax on all rich people. Then they might pay 30% to the IRS, 10% to the state, and 50% to the city.
San Francisco – triumph of the nanny state. Maybe they could clean up the human feces all over the city first.
@Jason – I suppose the downside to the cans is that you can’t screw the lid back on to carry it around for awhile – something especially useful when traveling by air. But and easy alternative is an all-aluminum bottle with a screw-top. These already exist in fact.
I have no problem reducing waste and everything. In fact I usually carry a reusable water bottle. But there has to be some compromise for situations like airports.
They should change the airport code to BFO for Ban Francisco.
Just when you think the SF Board of Stupidvisors couldn’t think of anything more idiotic … I love my home airport but I would boycott it just based on this level of stupidity. FYI I always bring a plastic bottle to refill, but sometimes people forget. The metal bottles will just end up in Landfill like the plastic ones (trust me this is what happens at Stanford).
maybe they can clean up all the poop on the sidewalks first
This is how socialism works. Force you into a government controlled space where you have little choice and then take freedoms away from you for the “greater good”. It’s just another experiment that will result in work arounds like aluminum bottles and such plus I’m sure added cost.
I have no idea if SFO intends to deal with this by replacing bottles with cans, but personally, I like canned water. I always ask for a can of water whenever I fly Southwest.
Recycling a plastic water bottle only saves about 5% of the energy of making a new one. Recycling an aluminum can saves about 90% of the energy it takes to make a new one. In California, recycling rates for aluminum cans are sky high.
That paper water at the JFK flagship lounge was awful. Glass? Do you really want broken glass all over the airport. I would prefer glass at home to plastic but not when walking carrying bags.
It’s really a ridiculous decision that makes life difficult for passengers. Since we can’t take drinks through security we are now force to rely on the airline. Norwegian Air doesn’t even have little plastic water bottles in premium so you are stuck getting the water poured into cups.
There are filtered water spigots all over the place at SFO. Many people fill their own bottles with them already. Or, if you can’t bring yourself to bring a bottle, and really think it’s nevessary to have more than a sip of water from a fountain (hint: it isn’t) you can fill one of those compostable plastic-look cups that every vendor at SFO already uses.
Stopping ignoramuses from causing environmental damage that hurts (and will cost $) to *everyone* is “the nanny state”? Jesus. Are you also upset that you’re not allowed to burn tires at SFO because you’d rather be a bit warmer than they keep it and it’s an inconvenience to be “forced” to bring a sweater?
Also, you’re not going to die of dehydration if you don’t have water with you at all times. No one ever had a bottle of water with them, outside of hiking situations, until soda companies conned people into thinking it was necessary 20-ish years ago.
Flavored water is exempted? What sense does that make?
They should have included bottled soft drinks too. No one needs that crap.
1984 by George Orwell….
I thought the planet is going to expire in 12 years anyway . . . Does this buy us another year, at least?
Gary, could you please explain to me the mechanism whereby germs impact those hands free water bottle filling stations where the water comes straight down? Your germaphobia is very selective (water bottle fillers, pump soap dispensers in hotel bathrooms) and is seemingly not well grounded in anything approaching common sense. Just think of all of the pathogens on the outside of a plastic water bottle bought at an airport store that has been handled by multiple airport employees or even other passengers who handled it and then put it back. There are no malicious germs on your personal water bottle which gets water dispensed into it without human contact of any sort.