This week, Niagara Falls (Canada) council renewed its commitment to a bylaw first passed in 2009 that bans the the sale of water in plastic bottles on city-owned property.

The food and beverage provider at the city’s new Gale Centre had petitioned council to allow it to sell biodegradable water bottles, but the request was denied. Council was, however, dismayed to learn that while their bylaw may prohibit the sale of plastic water bottles, it does not keep visitors from bringing their own containers onto city property–which then raised questions about the city’s recycling efforts.

According to a staff report, up to 75% of plastic water bottles wind up in landfills and the thrust of the bylaw is to reduce that amount. Tony Stirpe, who manages the food and beverage sales at the Gale Centre, said there is “zero recycling” going on at the new arena. He added that the Gale Centre does provide water fountains and filling stations to accommodate users of refillable water bottles.

Stirpe said teams and individuals bring in their own bottled water which mostly end up in the trash. When the Canadian team participating in the World Junior Hockey Championships set up camp at the four-pad last year, Stirpe said the team brought in 35 cases of bottled water. He says the bottles got tossed into garbage containers where city employees simply put it out for regular trash collection.

Interestingly, Kathy Moldenhauer, the city’s acting director of recreation and culture, claims there are lots of recycling bins throughout the Gale Centre for plastic water bottles. Asked if staff is just dumping recyclables into the trash, she said, “I hope not,” while promising to investigate the claim.

In the end, council voted to uphold the ban but also directed staff to explore ways to get the recycling message out and to encourage refillable water bottle use. That sounds like a win-win situation to us!