Colorado Town Bans Sale of One of Nation’s Most Popular Beverages

Breckenridge might just have taken the environmental crown of Colorado from Boulder.

As of July 1, residents and tourists can no longer buy a beverage that has outsold soda for seven years.

That’s because it comes in plastic.

Breckenridge, Colorado, has banned the sale of bottled water as a part of its initiative to reduce single-use plastics.

In addition to the bottled water ban, restaurants and other businesses in the mountain town can no longer use single-use containers and service ware.

Breckenridge Bans Bottled Water Sales

The Colorado town is one of a handful of municipalities in the United States to enact such rules. Concord, Massachusetts, led the way in 2012 among townwide retail bans in the United States. San Francisco banned plastic water bottles on city-owned property, notably including the airport.

RELATED: New Colorado State Law Bans Thousands of Products

Bottled water sits at a unique crosshairs as environmental groups and governments battle plastic pollution. While bottled water seems a waste with its seemingly easy access, analysts attribute its growth to Americans choosing healthier options than sugar-filled sodas.

Bottled water sales have grown 30 percent since 2022, according to the Beverage Marketing Corporation. Americans drank, on average, 46.5 gallons of bottled water in 2022 compared with 36 gallons of soda, which can also come in single-use plastic bottles that require more product for the bottle because of carbonation and/or the bottling process.

A change in Colorado state law allowed adoption of this new local rule. Jurisdictions were prohibited from restricting the use of materials until the Plastic Pollution Reduction Act, which passed in 2021. This is also the law that gave us the statewide plastic bag and polystyrene container bans.

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