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Water filling stations like this one are deployed across Grand Canyon National Park.
Activists concerned that Coca-Cola might be influencing National Park Service policy were breathing a bit easier Tuesday after the Grand Canyon National Park announced it would eliminate the sale of bottled water inside the park within 30 days.
"Our parks should set the standard for resource protection and sustainability," John Wessels, regional director for the park service, said in a statement. "I feel confident that the impacts to park concessioners and partners have been given fair consideration and that this plan can be implemented with minimal impacts to the visiting public."
The move came after activists on Dec. 2 released an email from National Park Service Director Jonathan Jarvis in which he stated that "while I applaud the intent (of the ban), there are going to be consequences, since Coke is a major sponsor of our recycling efforts."
Coca-Cola is also a major vendor of water and other drinks throughout the parks system.
The email disclosure was followed by Jarvis on Dec. 14 directing parks to implement a policy to reduce and recycle disposable water bottles. Included was "an option to eliminate in-park sales" if the regional director so approved and "following a thorough analysis of a variety of factors ranging from the cost to install water filling stations, to the cost and availability of BPA-free reusable containers, to potential effects on public safety," the park service stated.
The group that obtained the email, Public Employees for Environmental Responsibility, told msnbc.com that while it considers the decision a victory it still has concerns.
"While we are happy that Director Jarvis has reversed course, the record clearly shows intense public scrutiny forced this abrupt U-turn -- it did not result from a dispassionate or open decision-making process," PEER Executive Director Jeff Ruch said. "We hope this episode will limit the role of corporate donors in park management decisions."
Ruch said PEER still questions several provisions that he called "bureaucratic hoops" -- including ones that require any park seeking to ban plastic bottles to run it by the NPS health office and take annual surveys on visitor satisfaction and sales revenues.
"While Grand Canyon National Park has apparently met these requirements," he said, "another dozen parks, including Yellowstone and Death Valley, that had been considering bottle bans when Jarvis issued his system-wide moratorium may be deterred."
Grand Canyon National Park estimates that the waste associated with disposable bottles makes up 20 percent of its overall waste stream and 30 percent of its recyclables. It has also "experienced increasing amounts of litter associated with disposable plastic bottles along trails both on the rim and within the inner canyon, marring canyon viewpoints and visitor experiences," the park service stated.
Coke, Grand Canyon bottled water controversy gets murkier
"We want to minimize both the monetary and environmental costs associated with water packaged in disposable containers," added Grand Canyon Superintendent Dave Uberuaga.
Visitors instead are encouraged to bring or buy reusable water bottles, which can be refilled for free at stations throughout the park that use spring water.
More content from msnbc.com and NBC News
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One of the most compelling features about living in Arizona is its pristine parks free of trash. Let's keep it that way.
Why not hire people to clean up the parks? Joblessness seems to be a pretty big problem in America right now. Banning water bottles will result in lost jobs. Hiring people to clean up the park will help with the economy. If there doesn't seem to be enough tax and fee money to pay park employees to clean - why not let go of some of the overpaid politicians or reduce their income level and benefits?
I just wish I had know people would pay for something they could get for free. That said, it would be great if more people gave a shi@ about anything other than themselves. Throwing trash outside, not recycling when it's so easy, treating people poorly, just not caring about anything just sucks. Our country would be a better place if people treated people and places as they would for themselves and their homes. I'm sure they would not want a pile of empty bottles laying around their yard. Sigh
I totally agree with this ban, very good move and I would hope CocaCola would agree!! As for you Karl from Germany "Don't let the door hit you in the A$$ on your way out" of America, and don't come back!
So Diane, Karl From Germany hurt your feelings? Geez, you know he may just be right about us. Have you seen the litter Americans leave behind?
In 2010, there were just about 4.4 million people who visited the Grand Canyon. If all of them were charged an extra 50 cents each time, that's $2,200,000 per year extra revenue, more than enough to pay for a taskforce of minimum-wage earners who could walk around and clean up the park (plastic bottles and other trash). That money could also pay for a regional recycling center (maybe in Flagstaff?) to make a weekly drive to pick up the plastic bottles and other recyclables. There are so many options to fix this problem, yet they decide to choose one option that won't help that much, as others have already stated (i.e. people will still continue to bring their own water bottles and then throw on the ground, other drink bottles will be thrown on the ground, other drinks that will still be sold are worse for us than good ol' water, etc).
Another option would be to have more trash cans installed, so instead of a lazy American pig having to walk 100 feet to the nearest trash can, adding more trash cans would make that walk only 50 feet. Yeah, I know, that's pretty stupid, but... Americans are getting more stupid and much more lazy every day. It makes me sick. I'm a 43 year old American and I never thought I would see people in this country as stupid as they are right now.
When I was a kid back in the early to mid 70's, we had recycling in Phoenix. We would go pick up aluminum cans and then our dad would take us to recycle them where we got cash in hand! Not a lot of cash ($7 or $8), but great spending money for a couple hours worth of work. That was good money back then. We also had 5 cent bottle deposits, so there was a reason to recycle bottles back then. Why did we stop that here in the U.S.? It taught us to be environmentally friendly and also make a little bit of spending money. A "win win" situation for all. The price of aluminum probably changed and lawmakers didn't think how much space those cans and bottles take up in our landfills.
bobert1968: I'm 100% in agreement with you. I don't know if you are old enough to remember when most sodapop came in glass bottles, but all of the manufacturers used to have to charge and give refunds for bottle deposits. I recall it was about 25 cents a bottle.
As a kid, me and my friends would go collect a few cases of 24 bottles and have some money to spend on inexpensive toys, candy, gum and more pop. However, our neighborhood park was NEVER littered with throw aways. We always carried an extra bag for trash too, when we went out. As long as we saw the trash, my parents always taught us, "if you see it, pick it up, so someone else doesn't have to see it."
There are trash and recycling cans everywhere on the canyon rims and at all the major overlooks. They haven't resorted to lining the inner canyon trails with trash can yet. As for the park's recycling efforts; there are white recycling dumpsters at most parking areas as well. Those dumpsters are emptied something like every 2-3 days. The problem is more due to carelessness than visitors actively throwing bottles in the canyon. People are so taken in by the canyon that they place their mostly empty bottles on the safety walls while they take pictures and then all it takes is a small gust or a little bump. After a bottle falls in it is usually fairly obvious that retrieving a bottle is not worth the risk to a person's life. That said, reducing the number of plastic bottles available for sale in the canyon will reduce the number of bottles in the canyon. Since the multiple use bottles (both plastic and metal) that will replace the cheap single use bottles are heavier (and slightly more costly), gusts should not be as much of a problem and people will use more care with something that costs them more.
I'm sure it's not only bottles littering the Grand Canyon
Since it states the plan to offer free refill station supplied by spring water will they provide information of gas fracking activity in the water shed zone
What? Don't quite understand your reasoning or comments. Don't think the Grand Canyon has that type of activity.
How about the uranium mine?
http://www.grandcanyontreks.org/orphan.htm
The Orphan Uranium Mine is literally on the south rim. At the very least there is the possibility of radon in the water.
Radon is a colorless, odorless gas formed when some radioactive elements break down. It is mildly radioactive and is only harmful if ingested or breathed in a confined space without proper ventilation.
Is any of the ground water from their the source for any of the water stations? I rather doubt it. In this part of the world, many homes have unsafe radon levels just from varying concentrations of uranium in the underlying shale, which probably explains some of the lung cancer in people who never smoked, lived with smokers, or worked in factories exposed to noxious fumes.
They missed an ideal opportunity to improve the ecology and provide an incentive to recycle (more on that below). Adding a penny or a nickel to every bottle of water sold would enhance recycling immeasurably. People finding bottles along the trails, boy/girl scouts and other entities looking for some extra cash would gladly take up the "greening" of this and other areas IF there were something to be gained, anything actually. Coke makes near as much money on it's other products in the park so why not ban Coke bottles? Don't tell me there are no Coke paraphernalia along side these water bottles. It's all green propaganda BS.
Recycling has got to go "big time" and show the way with incentives: look at your local trash collection and see how much EXTRA they charge for recycling bins? It's outrageous. The consumer buys, consumes, sorts and gets billed again for recycling efforts that save Billions$$$ in production costs. Our current "recycling" paradigm, along with many others in this Country, is flawed, and failing miserably. Recycling works but adding an incentive to particularly harmful refuse is the only proven way to get consumers to think about not only the purchase but the aftermath of their consumption. It used to be lucrative (bubble gum money for those that remember) for a youngster to collect bottles, aluminum cans and newspaper, but the personal incentive ( the Garbage Company billing you to recycle is the exact opposite) is no longer there. Good habits start at home! The incentive lies with bigger interests (read: Coke or substitute your favorite conglomerate). You want to, as some above stated, "..live like pigs..", it's needs to be reflected in the point of sale and disposal.
Remember, water is FAR from the only thing in plastic, look in your fridge and count how many plastic containers are there. Multiply times a nickel then again for every shopping trip, maybe you wouldn't think about tossing it frivolously but somebody would be willing to, literally, take your money and help clean things up in the process.
In theory it's a good idea, but sadly is will never solve the problem of plastic waste. Will returning to glass bottles be more of a solution ? The biggest mistake was these company's going to plastics in the first place. There will still be bottles left.
I guess I won't be visiting the Grand Canyon. I don't take reusable bottles on vacation. If I'm on vacation, I'm not washing dishes. Period.
<scratching head> It's...water. How much "cleaning" do you have to do? Just give it a rinse...
You have to do more than rinse. The bacteria from your mouth makes reusable water bottles unsanitary unless you wash them with soap & HOT water. I don't do dishes on vacation.
Well, I guess if it's that much trouble washing the mouth of a canteen or two you are absolutely right, you shouldn't be visiting the Canyon. And there's all that dirt, animals that just go to the bathroom wherever they feel like it, unsanitary insects...
Maybe a cruise somewhere, or a stay at the Ritz-Carlton.
A cruise? Are you nuts? Rotovirus.
KARL!! Your kind left the biggest polution from WWI and WWII. Your country is a nation of "Swines", so hitler boy, go do your storm trooper march elsewhere. We still remember what your nation did and will never forget.
Nice to see a comment from Germany's own, "Karl." If he says all Germans recycle than it must be true! What a joke.
Our parks are an embarassment next to theirs. Not exactly even with the invasion of Poland, not to mention the Holocaust, but nonetheless true.
Maybe it should be illegal to litter. Oh, it already is. Maybe signs should be put up that no Illegals crossing the Rio Grande can carry bottle water. That wouldn't stop them I guess. Maybe a vendors should be allowed with the understanding that cleanup costs must be made by the vendors. No easy answer is there.
what does water have to do with the bottle ? are they banning all drinks in the bottles or what?makes no sence to me.
The US Park Service is saying that it will no longer allow the sale of bottled water within the Grand Canyon National Park. The reason for it is that they do not want to contribute to the excessive waste associated with disposable water bottles.
The real issue is why are there not more public free water drinking fountains available? Not just at a national park site visited by millions annually, but in all different locations...such as shopping malls, downtown public areas, office buildings etc...
My thought is that the push to eliminate these conveniences is not just coincidental.
The use of plastic or aluminum for storing fluids and solids is not going away but alternatives could be offerred.
My son will be 3 this Friday and already knows the difference between the garbage and recycling bins. It is the new way of life. Teach them young and it will be instinctual. When I was young, I knew my mother would kill me if she knew I littered. Before I understood why, I knew it was wrong. Forever instilled in me though! :)
I dont have a problem with the ban. However, I wonder if it would create a situation where more water was being wasted with people trying to refill containers. I see a situation where a refill station has mutiple stuck water pipes in the on position letting water run everwhere.
It's unconscionable to think that people need to buy another chunk of plastic, every time they get thirsty. Most have absolutely no idea that tap water is no worse than most bottled water. Complaintants of this issue are just too lazy, spoiled or stupid to make any effort to reduce the magnitude of our pollution. I applaud any venue that abolishes the sale of bottled water, which is just a corporate ploy, to charge fees, for something we should be accustomed to consuming for free. Refill, or buy long lasting containers. Don't buy plastic bottles every time you get thirsty. This saves he environment and reduces your cost for a commodity that should be free. Simple common sense.
This is a great idea, but "seeking to ban plastic bottles" is confusing since most refillable bottles are also made of plastic. And I assume the vendors who once sold disposable bottles will be selling refillable bottles, but we don't get info about that in this incomplete article. I carry a plastic, semi-insulated, "Polar", refillable, 24 oz. water bottle (which I fill at the sink!) when I go cycling or on a short hike and can't understand why I see so many people with paid-for bottled water. I once lived in a home where the public water didn't taste very good and it was still cheaper to use a Britta pitcher and finally a whole-house filter than to buy bottled water.
Why is it we are all made to suffer for others who cannot follow the rules? If I were Coke I would stop supporting the park and let the people who complained/protested start paying for it. There is nothing wrong with the process here. It's not Coke's fault that some humans don't respect anything. But Coke has to suffer for it? How much money was made from selling their products at the park? Will the loss of this revenue cause people to loss their jobs at Coke? Why not do something to correct the problem vs. making everyone else suffer.
If you've ever been to Runyon Canyon you know how people disregard the rules there too. They let their dogs run off their leashes and don't pick up for them. In the summer it smells like @!$%# park. People just don't have respect for others no matter where it is and I think we need to start holding them accountable. Where does it end?
Shoot the violators!!
oh yes, our hearts bleed for Coke :eyeroll:
Of course your heart doesn't bleed for coke Osprey... I would guess that it only bleeds for the environmentalists and any other group created to get in the way of 'big business' or 'big anything' for that matter. Just as a liberal do. Blame everyone else but the ones who do wrong.
All Coke does is employ more people then any one of these environmentalist groups put together. They aren't the ones littering in the park and they get penalized. I hate litter, but I don't blame McDonald's for all the trash on the side of the road from their restaurants.