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SLO council considering water bottle ban

December 29, 2016

The San Luis Obispo City Council is set to discuss the possibility of adopting a San Francisco-style ban on single-use plastic water bottles.

In February, the council voted 4-1 to direct city staff to craft an ordinance banning the sale of single-use water bottles at city events. City staffers have yet to draft the ordinance. Rather, they are asking the council to conduct a study session on Tuesday in which it will review possible water bottle ordinances.

During the study session, council members will listen to a report about a 2014 ban enacted by San Francisco, as well as some similar regulations that other cities have adopted. The San Francisco ban prohibits the sale and distribution of single-use plastic bottles on city property.

In addition to being limited to city property, the San Francisco ban only applies to plastic water bottles that are 21 ounces or less. Additionally, the ordinance exempts athletic competitions and events with fewer than 100 attendees.

Other cities that have similar bans include Belmont, Calif.;  Seattle and Toronto. Most of the bans only affect the use and sale of water bottles on city property. They also encourage cities to make more drinking water available in public places by adding fountains and water bottle filling stations.

Chicago has  implementing a 5 cent tax on the retail sale of plastic and glass water bottles, according to a SLO staff report.

City staffers say CalRecycle estimates that more than 13 million bottles were purchased in San Luis Obispo during the 2015-2016 fiscal year and only 41 percent were recycled. Statewide, 3 billion plastic bottles annually end up as litter or in landfills, according to CalRecycle.

The SLO City Council will convene for its regular meeting at 6 p.m. Tuesday. The discussion on possible water bottle ordinances is near the end of the agenda.


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Solve your pension problems don’t mask your ineptitude with another silly rule.


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Instead of being problem maker, maybe the SLO City Council could be a problem solver, create a Recycle(hard to find one now) destination for all the water bottles that are sold in the City!!!

Or better yet, mandate that any business that sells water bottles, also have to redeem them for the CRV credit:)


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I know! This is so typical of government (read: inept people who really do not belong in the positions they hold).


Create a problem, then come along and try to solve said problem, but only exacerbate it.


The fools in government created the CRV, and the moron CA voters (oxymoron) thought they were saving the planet, the oceans or whatever was in vogue at the time. Fast forward: it all didn’t mean shit, except they got more money from fools (us).


Now, instead of actually using the CRV as it was intended, they want to spend money they do not have on a problem they helped create by NOT implementing the redemption value in a functioning, self-funding program.


We’ve been paying for this forever, and most of us still do not actually redeem the deposits. The program should be FLOODED with money. We also have a sh!t-ton of homeless, who are a perfect labor force to deal with this (collect them and turn them in). Why not look at what the government did wrong, rather than create more bureaucracy.


Don’t answer. I know why, and it pains me to think about it.


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The San Luis Obispo City Council should focus its efforts on important matters. Making water available “city events” is important, even if the water comes in “single-use” plastic bottles.


Go do your job, San Luis Obispo City Council, and quit focusing on the cutesy fluff…


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The state charges a CRV when you purchase bottled water or canned beverages, but there are very few places to redeem them for cash and now they just want to ban them. So now they will raise taxes or some bull crap because they are losing revenue from the water bottle ban.


Poor middle class can’t win for losing. How many jobs will be lost to the bans cities now put in place? Gee no wonder so many companies are moving out of the state between taxes and banning items a company can’t survive here any more.


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What in the world is a “water bottle filling station?” Is this some new sort of public appliance taxpayers will have to pay for? I understand drinking fountains — I refill my plastic bottles at one of those with no problem, so why do we need some other public appliance in addition to fountains?


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A drinking fountain is a $$ item, but since taxpayers will be paying for them we need “water bottle filling stations” and we all know those are $$$$$$$ items. Plus water bottle filling stations will have apparatuses to fill all possible genders of water bottles. We all know a simple water fountain just isn’t PC.


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All a “water bottle filling station” needs to be is a drinking fountain. If you want to make it easier for people to fill larger bottles, have an extra water faucet with a spring-back valve which cannot be left on. That’s all that’s needed.


Wait until you see what this city council is sure to come up with: Refrigerated, ozone disinfected, activated charcoal filtered “water bottle filling station” that cost about $40K each to purchased and install.


Each one will require on-going maintenance, they’ll be targets for vandalism and make convenient nighttime urinals for the homeless.


I figure “phase one” of “water bottle filling station” will cost about $500-750K. I figure they’ll be in service for a year until they are either removed and their supply pipes capped or replaced with $18.00 spring-back water faucets.


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Don’t forget the funding needed for the increase in staff: government slugs might like to increase the amount of work required, but they never actually want to work more (or at all?)


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“San Francisco-style ban”? Wow… what a great model. Why don’t we become a sanctuary city too? When will this all end?


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You are a santuary city, it just hasn’t been publicized.


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a plastic 12oz water bottle is worth 5 cents. I save mine and the ones around my office. It equates to about extra $5/month when I recycle them.


Ya’ll are missing out on $$$ when you don’t recycle.


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Big problem in that all of the buy back centers are closed or closing, statewide.

If you know of an open one, please post location…


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demiseofslo… You are not recycling those bottles in SLO as all the stations are closed (through the County) so how are you making that extra $5 a month? If you are recycling, please share the location. Me, I am throwing them in my trash since they closed the last of the recycling centers last summer. The City should focus on getting ALL 13 million bottles recycled instead of spending more money. How many of those 13 million bottles are used on City property, a very small share I am sure so solve the bigger problem and stop with the fuffy feel foolish plan!


I refuse to put my bottles and cans in the recycling bin and not get my $$ back so I eliminated my indoor bin and use one trash container and yes, they all go to the landfill. Solve this problem and maybe you will have earned your paycheck this month! We have 5 people in our household and we probably have 15-20 cans and bottles a week at a minimum. Thanks for making our life easier…


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People should have the bottled water they drink tested , they probably would find out that water aint so good after all lol


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Yikes!!


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