SFO prohibits the sale of plastic water bottles

In general, we are seeing a significant global push for more environmentally friendly policies, and I would say that in the United States we have seen a lot of progress on that front. This is an area in which the United States has lagged behind (especially in relation to many European countries), although the United States is starting to catch up, at least at the state and city level.

There is now a new airport policy interesting in this sense.

SFO prohibits the sale of a plastic water bottle

The San Francisco Airport Prohibits the Sale of Disposable Plastic Water Bottles Effective August 20, 2019. This is the first time we have seen an American airport implement such a policy. This will apply to restaurants, cafes and vending machines, the only exception being flavored water, which can continue to be sold in plastic bottles.

This means that pbadengers wishing to obtain a bottle of water will either have to bring their own reusable bottle or buy an aluminum or reusable glbad bottle at the airport.

This development fits into a broader plan to zero carbon emissions and energy use of the OFS by 2021.

This last movement is not quite the choice of the airport. A 2014 ordinance banned the sale of plastic water bottles on all properties in the city, and the airport is obviously part of it, even though it has just been put in place. in place at the airport.

At present, many SFO establishments still sell plastic water bottles, while others have opted for glbad bottles and reusable bottles without plastic.

The challenge of staying hydrated at airports

It goes without saying that bottled water is an incredible waste. But airports are also difficult places in this respect, because you can not bring your own water. The war against liquids at airports has been expanded in a totally different way.

That made me think of my own situation. At home, I do not use bottled water and I drink only filtered water. I also have a reusable bottle and I carry it wherever I go when I'm not traveling.

However, I do not prevail when I travel. I should probably think about it now, but I feel there are a few reasons why I do not do it:

• I often go to countries where drinking tap water is not a safe option
• I do what I can to minimize the amount of things I travel with, and that's another thing to bring.
• I would keep the reusable bottle in my backpack, but I'm afraid the bottle will open and spill water on my electronics; I lost several laptops because of liquid damage

At the same time, I am not someone who buys bottled water at airports. I almost always have access to the living room, so I will only drink water from the coolers that they have there. But I also recognize that other people do not have access to the lounges and that's why I fully understand why people buy so much bottled water at airports and how that might be a problem.

Clearly, SFO's policy change is encouraging people to bring their own bottles. But otherwise I have some questions:

• Why can establishments sell soda in plastic bottles, but not water? In many cases, this will make soft drinks cheaper than water and will push people to make less healthy purchases.
• Do not you fear all the potential glbad breaks that we will see with this policy change?
• In this specific situation, is the impact on the environment really entirely positive? Glbad bottles are much heavier than plastic bottles, so emissions are more important for transporting bottles to the airport. This will also increase the fuel consumption of planes if a lot of people bring glbad bottles

I say all of this as a totally anti-plastic person, but I think it's worthwhile to recognize the challenges that this represents.

If they really want to do what is best for the environment and the pbadengers, the airport should perhaps directly sell reusable bottles quite close to the cost, which would allow people to stay hydrated at a reasonable cost while caring for the environment.

But I'm sure that would also violate the agreements they have with their suppliers, many of which make it very fortunate to sell a basic human need to pbadengers. So, they want to help the environment, but they do not want to lose revenue either.

I am curious to know what you think: what do you think of the change of policy of the FSO and do you travel with a bottle of reusable water?