Innovative Bottled Water Tax Stirs Up Controversy in Chicago | Sustainablog…….
January 9th, 2008
Great use of the feebate tax model. The extra 5 cents per bottle will discourage use of throw away plastic containers, while raising money to maintain Chicago’s water infrastructure.
In addition to producing revenue that can be used to maintain the city’s water infrastructure, the tax is designed to encourage citizens to shift their hydration habits from bottled to tap water, which is essentially the same thing you get when you buy most bottled water brands. (Filtration with a charcoal filter such as Brita or Pur is a common step taken to remove any chlorine aftertaste, though it I think it tastes fine straight from the faucet.) The tax will also help reduce the number of the plastic containers that wind up in landfills (less than 20% of plastic water bottles in this country are ever recycled) and reduce the greenhouse gas and other pollution created by trucking all that water to retail sites.
Entry Filed under: Consumerist, Cool Thing, Global Warming
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