Industry News
Breckenridge, Colorado, is taking matters into its own hands when it comes to reducing plastic pollution. Effective July 1, the town has banned the sale of plastic water bottles and single-use plastic containers in retail food establishments.
“We are proud to lead by example in addressing plastic pollution,” said Sustainability and Parking Manager Jessica Burley in the press release by the town of Breckenridge. “This ordinance reflects our dedication to preserving our natural environment for future generations.”
Understanding that the transition could be challenging but worthwhile, Breckenridge has taken steps to help ease the pain for businesses and consumers. Burley has implemented a grant program to help businesses take on the additional overhead of stocking up on reusable drinkware, high-efficiency dishwashers, and other equipment to aid in the transition. Additionally, free water refill stations will be installed throughout the town for consumers who carry their own reusable water bottles.
To help enforce these new restrictions, a tiered system of fines was created to punish businesses who repeatedly do not comply. The fines are relatively light at first, but Breckenridge will be tracking the compliance of businesses and is prepared to increase these fines if there are many offenses.
“Noncompliance with the ordinance will result in a written warning on the first violation while any subsequent violation would be $50 for the first violation, $100 for the second, and $300 for the third and each subsequent violation in that calendar year,” Burley said in an interview with Summit Daily. “The Town Council has been concerned that these penalties might not be strong enough.”
Similar plastic bans have been seen going into effect in other mountain towns, such as Telluride and South Lake Tahoe. South Lake Tahoe has implemented a similar grant system to install free water refill stations at businesses around town. Unfortunately, an unwanted side-effect of being a high tourism area is the mounting problem of trash build-up, with 8,559 pounds of trash being recovered in South Lake Tahoe by local volunteer clean-up efforts after last year’s Fourth of July Weekend alone.
- Related: Beach Clean-Up Gathers a Staggering 8,559 Pounds of Trash at Lake Tahoe, CA, After Independence Day
With this initiative, Breckenridge hopes to “achieve its goal of 20% source reduction of municipal solid waste.” Despite minor setbacks, this ordinance will help make tourism in the area more sustainable and decrease the negative impact on the planet as a whole. If everyone works together and contributes, single-use plastic may soon be considered unnecessary and outdated.
Refilling the small 1/2 liter plastic bottles with filtered reverse osmosis water at 39c per gallon prices out at about 1/3 the cost of buying new plastic bottles. Plus with reuse I’m not throwing out the small plastic bottles.