Taxes on bottled water are better at raising money than reducing litter

With environmental concerns on the rise, many US states have introduced policies to reduce waste, including taxes on packaging. In new research using a case study of the introduction of a bottled water tax in Washington State, Andrew Stevens finds that such taxes have far less of an impact than was originally expected. For an average tax increase of 9 percent, consumers only reduced consumption of bottled water by 6 percent. Other policies, such as deposit and refund systems, he writes, are far more effective in reducing plastic bottle waste and litter.