New Yorkers will soon be able to bring their own reusable water bottles into the city’s collection of stadiums and arenas next year. It’s expected to save sports fans money, reduce waste and convince sports fans to bring water bottles wherever they go.
“If we want to adopt good habits then we have to make it easy for them – and that’s what we’re doing today,” City Councilmember Shaun Abreu, who is sponsoring the piece of legislation, said during a press conference on Wednesday.
The new measure is the latest step the city has taken to reduce its reliance on fossil fuels. In the past, the City Council passed a bill forbidding restaurants from doling out condiments or plastic cutlery to customers unless requested and launched a ban on plastic bags.
And a law passed several years ago that’ll reduce landlords’ reliance on natural gas and fossil fuels will go into effect for some buildings next year. Another bill would compel ice cream truck drivers to switch to solar or electric generators.
Hundreds of thousands of single-use water bottles are used at New York City’s stadiums and arenas each year, according to estimates from the Natural Resources and Defense Counsel. Under the new bill, ticket holders can attend any professional and collegiate sports venue within the city with a water bottle – so long as it’s made of aluminum or stainless steel and holds no more than 24 fluid ounces of water. The bill is expected to take into effect in 2024.
And with 38 sponsors, including support from Speaker Adrienne Adams, the bill’s passage is guaranteed, Abreu told Gothamist. The mayor’s office did not immediately respond to requests for comment on whether Mayor Eric Adams supports the bill.
With the city’s seven large professional sports teams – the Yankees, the Mets, the Rangers, the Knicks, the Nets, the New York Liberty and Brooklyn Cyclones – play at least a combined 380 home games each year – the new bill would deter thousands of people from buying a single use water bottle, its senior attorney Eric A. Goldstein told Gothamist.
But even beyond the numbers – Goldstein said it’ll contribute to a “societal shift” away from single use water bottles.
“What happens in the world of sports can influence the broader culture,” he said. “And as people are allowed – or encouraged – to bring reusable water bottles to sporting events, it should reinforce their habits of carrying refillables where they go.”
The move would be following in the steps of the U.S. Open – which let its roughly 950,000 attendees bring reusable water bottles this year – and provided on-site refill stations.
Goldstein said he and others are already looking at making the practice either highly encouraged – or even legally allowed – at other spaces, like restaurants, take out establishments and other venues that have banned reusable water bottles.
“There’s more to come down the line,” he said.
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