Before Town Meeting, a Student's Perspective on the Bottled Water Debate

A CCHS student pours out his feelings on Concord's bottled water ban.

UPDATED: Local Businesses Adjusting to Concord’s ‘Bottle Ban’

After a new bylaw took effect with the start of the New Year, local businesses have resolved not sell single-serving bottled water. But that doesn’t mean they like it.

Editors' Note: This story was updated Jan. 9 to correct a reporting error.A previous version of this story incorrectly stated Stephanie Stillman, executive director of Concord's Chamber of Commerce, told the Globe the Chamber would support efforts to repeal the water bottle-banning bylaw. On the third day of 2013, the third day after Concord’s revolutionary water bottle bylaw took effect, a few local business owners and store managers reported inspectors making the rounds and checking their shelves for the new contraband: Non-sparking, unflavored drinking water in single-serve PET bottles of 1 liter or less. At shops like Crosby’s Marketplace and the Trail’s End Café and Corner Store, they were ready for it. Shelves that formerly held …

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Adriana Cohen

7:35 pm on Sunday, January 6, 2013

Concord residents opposed to the bottled water ban have formed a coalition here in Town called CRCC (Concord Residents for Consumer Choice). It's a grassroots Consumer Choice advocate group comprising of Concord parents, residents, health providers and small business owners. We've submitted a Warrant to the Town to rescind the Bottled Water ban. Anyone interested in joining our cause and …   more ›

Bottles Banned: AG Approves Concord's Water Bottle Bylaw

Effective Jan. 1, 2013, you won't be able to purchase non-sparkling, unflavored drinking water in polyethylene terephthalate bottles of one liter or less.

The Attorney General's Office today issued its approval of Concord's water-bottle banning bylaw. The bylaw, adopted uner Article 32 at annual Town Meeting earlier this year, will prohibit the sale of non-sparkling, unflavored drinking water in a polyethylene terephthalate bottle of one liter or less. According to a letter to the town announcing the approval, the analysis and approval was influenced by the Supereme Court's decision that a Minnesota law banning retail sale of milk in non-returnable, non-refillable plastic containers did not violate the federal equal protection or due process clauses or unlawfully burden interstate commerce. To read the AG's letter, click the PDF posted to your right. Martha Coakley's office has previously …

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VIDEO: Bottle Ban Backer Fashions Plastic Faucet

Concord resident Bob Lawson fashioned a faucet out of empty water bottles as a sign of support for Article 32, which proposes a bylaw to prohibit the sale of flat, unflavored drinking water in plastic bottles of 1 liter or less.

Bottled water bans going before annual Town Meeting is becoming almost customary in Concord, but a homemade structure displayed around town on Tuesday intended to raise at least a few new eyebrows. Concord resident Bob Lawson, who fashioned the faucet out of empty plastic water bottles, says it's time to stand up and act on that which the town has been talking about for a few years now. Bottled water is low-hanging fruit in the fight for the environment, and the town should have no trouble returning to the tap, Lawson said.

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Adriana Cohen

2:43 pm on Monday, April 30, 2012

Why isn't Lawson driving a Prius? Isn't his big truck burning "evil" fossil fuels making us dependent on "Big Oil?" I also noticed he's drinking from a styrofoam cup with a - dare I say "Plastic" lid. I thought those items were bad for the environment? Hmmm. Looks like we have another "Do as I say, Not as I do," hypocrite on our hands. Maybe next time he should pretend he's green - at least on …   more ›