Vaughan
August 28, 2008 10:25 PM
By: David Fleischer
One Vaughan city councillor is hoping to start a trend that would see water bottles a thing of the past.
Alan Shefman will table a motion to ban single-use water bottles at municipal buildings, when council reconvenes in September.
If it passes, Vaughan will be the first city in York Region to have such a bylaw.
“It’s only a token thing, but it’s a sign we need to do something,” he said.
London instituted a similar ban this week and the Toronto and Ottawa school boards, and Vancouver, are among those making similar moves.
Mr. Shefman regularly jogs a 5 km route around his Thornhill neighbourhood.
On a recent run he decided to keep track of the number of discarded bottles he came across and the number stunned him: 31.
“It’s my own reaction to the litter,” he said of what inspired him to work on the motion.
A recent report from the Ministry of the Environment said York Region’s water was some of the cleanest in the province, scoring 99.3 per cent in their tests.
That makes using water bottles —and discarding them— redundant at best and wasteful at worst.