Chicago Enacts Bottled Water Tax

Link: New Year brings bottled water tax — chicagotribune.com.

Chicago is set to impose a 5-cent tax on bottled water on Jan. 1, becoming the first major U.S. city to demand such a surcharge. The move — which officials predict will secure an extra $10.5 million annually — will help the city plug a budget hole by building on the growing disdain for environmentally suspect bottles.

While the problem with bottled water waste in the United States is bad, I
have found that it is much worse here in the Czech Republic. Households generally
depend on 1.5 litre bottles of water as their primary drinking source (or possible secondary source if you include pilsner beer) which
can be bought for the equivalent of fifty US cents in any store. Add that to the much lower recycling rates in the Czech Republic and that equates to a mounting environmental toll.