In a fantastic move to reduce plastic waste and consumption, the San Francisco International Airport has rolled out a ban on the sale of plastic water bottles at any of its restaurants, convenience stores, and vending machines starting 20th August. This is an effort by the airport to become the first zero-waste airport by 2021.
Travellers will, instead, have to use water fountains to quench their thirst or bring their own bottles and fill in water from the hundreds of hydration stations. Alternatively, they can purchase water in authorized glass or aluminium containers.
The ban is on purified water, sparkling water, mineral water, and electrolyte-enhanced water.
According to Doug Yakel – a spokesperson for the airport, the airport would sell a massive 10,000 water bottles every day and generated a gigantic 28 million pounds of waste annually. Now considering that each of these bottles takes hundreds of years to biodegrade, this is a huge burden on Earth.
Further, authorities have confirmed that each traveller produces roughly half a pound of trash. Isn’t this absolutely shocking?
In a step to cut down on this, the airport had also, earlier in the year, banned single-use plastic cutlery and utensils and items such as straws and napkins.
This move has been welcomed by many and we hope that other airports follow suit quickly to save Mother Earth from further decline.
