On Tap: Reducing Plastic Bottle Use
Takoma Park Crackdown Is Latest Environmental Step by a Local Government

By Lori Aratani
Washington Post Staff Writer
Thursday, May 29, 2008

Takoma Park has become one of the first cities in the Washington region to ban the use of city funds to buy small plastic bottles of water for government offices and city events. Instead, officials will encourage people to use recyclable containers or drink from fountains or large coolers.

It is a move that puts the city in sync with environmentally friendly actions by other local governments. The Montgomery County Council recently passed a package of bills that will offer tax credits to residents who retrofit their homes with energy-saving devices and require new homes to meet federal energy efficiency standards.

Gaithersburg recently constructed its first building -- the Robertson Park youth center -- to receive Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design certification, a nationally accepted rating system of green buildings. Two more green buildings, another youth center and an aquatic center are in the works.

Takoma Park Mayor Bruce Williams said the decision dovetails with the city's reputation for being progressive.

"We felt like we needed to step up our efforts to be a greener place, and one easy thing to do was to have city government take this action," Williams said. "We started with ourselves and said, 'Okay, we have plastic water bottles, and it's nuts to have them for a number of reasons.' "

With its April vote, Takoma Park joins communities as diverse as San Francisco and Fayetteville, Ark., in encouraging residents to return to tap water. Williams and other officials said this will help reduce waste. Even though plastic bottles are recyclable, officials said, the energy and resources that go into producing the bottles are wasteful.

"It was not just the trash issue," said Reuben Snipper, a Takoma Park Council member. "It was also the corporate ownership of water, which makes it enormously expensive." Snipper credited one of his constituents with coming forward with the idea.

"It's exciting to see Takoma Park taking the lead on this issue in the D.C. area," said Gigi Kellett, national director of the Think Outside the Bottle campaign, which is encouraging individuals and businesses to sign a pledge to reduce consumption of bottles of water.

Officials with the International Bottled Water Association said such actions may draw headlines but fail to address underlying environmental issues.

"Bottled water is a very safe, healthy, convenient beverage that consumers use to stay hydrated," said Joe Doss, president and chief executive of the association. "Any actions, such as [those taken in] Takoma Park that would discourage consumers from drinking bottled water, is not in the public interest."

Doss said many of his association's members have introduced lighter bottles in shapes that are more easily recycled.

"Bottled-water companies are committed to working with legislators to promote comprehensive environmental and stewardship policies," he said. "Any efforts to reduce waste should target all consumer goods, not just target one industry."

Other governments and communities in Montgomery County also striving to be environmentally friendly have started public education programs and recycling efforts.

Next month, Rockville officials will launch a green education section on the city's Web site, which will offer information on things residents can do, big and small, to help the environment. For the first time, the city also featured a green expo at its annual Hometown Holidays Celebration, which took place over the weekend.

During the recent Green Week in Gaithersburg, more than 400 people helped with the cleanup of 16 sites around the city, and more than 250 families participated in the city's Family Education Day. In addition, Gaithersburg officials also promoted a "lug a mug" day to encourage people to drink their beverages from reusable containers.

In 2006, Gaithersburg was the first city in Maryland to commit to fueling vehicles in the city fleet with biodiesel. The city has been able to reduce diesel fuel consumption by 10,000 gallons annually, said Erica Shingara, the city's environmental services director.

Residents and businesses in Bethesda have also launched their own set of green initiatives. Bethesda Green, in cooperation with Bethesda Urban Partnership, Honest Tea and Coca-Cola, recently unveiled the first of several specially designed beverage recycling bins that will be placed in pedestrian-friendly areas of Bethesda Row, Woodmont Triangle and the Metro stop in downtown Bethesda.

The goal is to have as many as 35 recycling bins for glass, plastic and metal beverage containers, said Dave Feldman, Bethesda Green's implementation director. Honest Tea and Coca-Cola donated seed money to buy the bins, and Bethesda Green is looking for residents to co-sponsor bins for a $1,000 donation each.

In addition to the recycling bins, other groups are developing proposals for collecting restaurant grease to be converted to fuel and for finding ways to help residents recycle toner cartridges, Feldman said. Another proposal would offer farmers markets as a place where people could drop off items that are sometimes difficult to recycle, such as compact fluorescent light bulbs, hangers and yogurt containers.

"This really is a community coming together," Feldman said about Bethesda's efforts. The recently installed recycling container "is symbolic of things to come."