Maine Considering Banning Plastic Water Bottles [POLL]

So it may indeed happen, plastic water bottles like those sold in bulk at Hannaford and Walmart may be going by the wayside soon.

Like discarded plastic bags and straws, empty plastic water bottles are ending up in the sames places, our rivers, streams and oceans.  They're also an important part of certain businesses and people's livelihoods as well.

The that bill would ban the sale of plastic water bottles under one liter in size sponsored by State Representative Nicole Grohoski of Ellsworth and Representative Lori Gramlich, of Old Orchard Beach, among others, was the focus of a public hearing in front of the Legislature's Environmental and Natural Resources Committee here in Maine yesterday.

During yesterday's public hearing Ms. Gramlich said, "We know there is a lot of plastic waste in our ocean, and this is a step in the direction to begin to hopefully decrease some of that."

Representative's from businesses across the state included those from grocery store chains, water bottlers like Poland Springs, truckers, and even bottle and can redemption center owners, who said that eliminating the plastic bottles would cut their revenue by 30% and forces these particular businesses across the state to close.

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Under the proposed bill, plastic bottles that contained carbonated beverages would continue to be acceptable.  The Legislature's Environmental and Natural Resources Committee will now consider advancing the bill to the full legislature at some point.

A statewide ban on single-use carry-out plastic bags was set to take place in Maine before the nasty COVID-19 pandemic set in, and at that point concerns came about that reusable cloth bags could carry and transmit the virus.  So the ban on plastic bags was kicked down the road and will now be implemented here in Maine this July 21st.