[Adopted 5-2-2017 by Art. 36 as Art. XXXV of the General Bylaws]
A. 
Plastic disposable water bottles made of polyethylene terephthalate (PET) contribute hazards to human health, societal economies, wildlife, and the environment. Examples of these problems include:
(1) 
Americans discard more than 30 million tons of plastic a year. Only 8% of that gets recycled. The rest ends up in landfills, is incinerated, or becomes the invasive species known as "litter." The amount of solid waste created by one-use plastic water bottles is staggering.
(2) 
Chemicals leached by plastics are in the blood and tissue of nearly all of us. Exposure to them is linked to cancers, birth defects, impaired immunity, endocrine disruption and other ailments.
(3) 
There are thousands of landfills in the United States. Buried beneath each one of them, plastic leachate full of toxic chemicals is seeping into groundwater and flowing downstream into lakes and rivers.
(4) 
Manufacturers' additives in plastics, like flame retardants, BPAs and PVCs, can leach their own toxicants. These oily poisons repel water and stick to petroleum-based objects like plastic debris.
(5) 
Entanglement, ingestion and habitat disruption all result from plastic ending up in the spaces where animals live. In our oceans alone, plastic debris outweighs zooplankton by a ratio of 36 to one. Plastic cannot biodegrade; it breaks down into smaller and smaller pieces over time but is still plastic.
(6) 
In the face of a growing global water crisis, water bottling corporations are turning water into a profit-driven commodity when it needs to be regarded as a human right.
B. 
The Town of Sudbury has high-quality tap water and provides regular governmental reports on its quality. The recommended eight glasses of water a day, at U.S. tap rates, equals about $0.49 per year; that same amount of bottled water is about $1,400.
C. 
The purpose of this bylaw is to protect the Town's beauty, reduce litter, protect the health of present and future generations, and save the citizens of the Town money that is needlessly spent on packaged water from distant sources in one-use bottles.
A. 
It shall be unlawful to sell nonreusable polyethylene terephthalate (PET) bottles of one liter (34 ounces) or less, containing uncarbonated, unflavored drinking water in the Town of Sudbury on or after the effective date of this bylaw. Water may be provided for free in any form. Proposed effective date of this bylaw: June 30, 2018.
B. 
In the event of a declaration (by Emergency Management Director, other duly authorized Town, commonwealth, or United States official) of an emergency affecting the availability and/or quality of drinking water to Sudbury residents, citizens and officials shall be exempt from this bylaw until seven days after such declaration has ended.
A. 
Health agents shall have the authority to enforce this bylaw. This bylaw may be enforced through any lawful means in law or in equity, including, but not limited to, noncriminal disposition pursuant to MGL c. 40, § 21D, and Chapter 1, General Provisions, Articles I and II, of the Town Code.
B. 
Violations of this bylaw are punishable by a fine of up to $300 per violation.
C. 
If noncriminal disposition is elected, then any person that violates any provision of this bylaw shall be subject to the following penalties:
(1) 
First offense: written warning.
(2) 
Second offense: $25 penalty.
(3) 
Third and subsequent offense: $50 penalty.
If the Town Manager determines that the cost of implementing and enforcing this bylaw has become unreasonable, then the Town Manager shall so advise the Select Board, and the Select Board shall conduct a public hearing to inform the citizens of such costs. Subsequent to the public hearing, the Select Board may continue this bylaw in force or may suspend it permanently or for such length of time as the Board may determine.
If any provision of this bylaw shall be held to be invalid by a court of competent jurisdiction, then such provision shall be considered separately and apart from the remaining provisions of this bylaw, which shall remain in full force and effect.