http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/Austra ... 3386?f=rss

Sounds like a victory for common sense to me

Why dispose of the empties? It is a legal requirement here that all bottles be returned to the suppliers (we pay an additional 25c or so on each bottle, which is returned when the bottle is returned to the store). The bottles are then sent back to the suppliers for cleaning and refilling... (PET being the exception, you get your 25c, but the plastic is crushed and recycled.)

I think the Australian idea is good though, especially if you can select the level of gas put into the bottle - that is the only type of water I currently buy - although I often use the Sodaclub to put gas into tap water-

If they did anything like this in Leeds the taps would be vandlised/pissed on (literally) and it would be unsafe to drink the water.



It's a good idea though.

They'll do it, then create extra council jobs: get a couple of guys to be "Tap wardens"

They've already done this at the university, which is complete and utter SHIIIIIIIITE.

- Refillable bottles are much larger than small bottles that you can buy. On the long walk to and from uni it's impractical to have a huge bottle with me.
- I always felt good that whenever I bought a bottle of ONE water, an african community would get 10 litres. Now that won't happen.
- During production weeks (for shows) I basically live in the union. Get in early, leave very late at night. I'm in no state to remember my bottle, so I end up buying one. Why pay more than double when I inevitable forget?

What we need is better recycling facilities instead of limiting people's choice in the free market.

Uhm, to prompt you to remember?

For the money you were forking out on bottled water you'd be better off giving the money to a charity such as WaterAid.

Bottled water contains all kinds of impurities, I'd much rather stick with cleaner tap water and use a BRITA filter if necessary (which to be fair it's not in Cornwall - such lovely fresh water down 'ere).

I think that the ban is a great idea. far from limiting so called choice it is better than the status quo. The true environmental cost of bottled water is not met by the producer or consumer. It is met by the public at large. There should even be a tax on bottled water and all bottles should have 50p deposits. Then if you throw away the bottle you are also throwing away money.

As for the size of bottle argument that is spurious to say the least. I have different size thermos flasks depending on the circumstances. If I am out all day I might take a 1L flask. If I need a smaller amount of fluid I will take the .5 L or .33 L flask.

If you want to support African villages make a donation to Water Aid either through the water company or better still a monthly direct debit (remember to claim gift aid).

I would like the ban to come here. In fact I would like to see a ban on the use of non recyclable packaging altogether. If there are no means of recycling that container in the area then it should be banned from use. Prior to the 80's there used to be deposits on all bottles of drink. In meant that we had a much cleaner countryside. If you were too lazy to take the bottles back kids would do so and pocket the deposit.