What to know
- FIFA has reportedly informed World Cup ticket holders that reusable water bottles will not be allowed inside tournament stadiums, citing safety concerns.
- Toronto City Councillor Josh Matlow says the policy could put fans at risk during hot summer weather and is urging city officials to seek clarification from FIFA.
- The Toronto Environmental Alliance warns the ban could lead to a significant increase in single-use plastic waste, potentially resulting in hundreds of thousands of additional water bottles being discarded.
- Environmental advocates argue the decision contradicts both Toronto’s waste-reduction efforts and FIFA’s stated sustainability commitments.
Toronto City Councillor Josh Matlow and the Toronto Environmental Alliance (TEA) are raising concerns after FIFA banned fans from bringing their reusable water bottles to World Cup stadiums.
With only a week left before the event kicks off, FIFA has reportedly notified World Cup ticket holders on Wednesday that reusable bottles will not be permitted into stadiums hosting the matches, including the Toronto Stadium.
According to media reports, the agency worries that bottles could be used as projectiles, posing a risk of harming attendees and players.
Councillor criticizes the decision
Despite the reported safety concerns, Matlow is criticizing FIFA’s decision, saying that banning fans from bringing their own bottles could pose a public health risk, as the games will be held during the summer, which is forecasted to be one of the hottest on record.
“[FIFA is] ignoring a very apparent safety issue, which is forcing people to sit in 30ºC heat under the exposed sun without their water bottle,” he told Now Toronto on Thursday.
“If they are willing to give out free water in the stands, that’s something we can talk about. But nowhere in Toronto should people be restricted from carrying drinking water in the extreme heat.”
Matlow said that FIFA had previously established that transparent water bottles would be allowed in stadiums, and failed to provide a better explanation for the ban.
“They should have a right to have access to drinking water, and shouldn’t be forced to have to pay for Coca-Cola products, when they should have ready access to a water bottle with them… To change course now without any real explanation is irresponsible, and frankly, dangerous.”
Although there are no city council meetings planned until the World Cup starts, Matlow said he has written to the city’s FIFA secretariat and asked them to address the issue and provide an update.
Environmental group warns of waste increase
Emily Alfred, a Waste Campaigner at the Toronto Environmental Alliance (TEA), told Now Toronto that the decision could increase the amount of disposable waste created during the event, worsening its environmental footprint.
Earlier this year, TEA released a report suggesting that Toronto could save over $100,000 and prevent 9.7 tonnes of waste by adopting reusable foodware during the event. The measure was not adopted by the city, who at the time said they were adopting other strategies to reduce waste.
As part of these measures, the city did implement a reusable cup and foodware program for its FIFA Fan Festival events, meant to reduce single-use waste.
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However, Alfred said FIFA’s latest announcement represents a step backwards, and has the potential to generate a lot more waste than originally expected.
“We can only estimate, because not everyone carries their refillable water bottle, but a lot of people do, and so if everyone who’s at those games has to buy water instead of being able to carry water in and use the water refill stations, that could be a quarter of a million water bottles over the six matches in Toronto, and that’s just a lot of waste,” she explained.
In addition to the extra waste, Alfred said banning reusable bottles also contradicts the City of Toronto’s and FIFA’s own sustainability goals.
FIFA’s webpage reveals that it is committed to global sustainability, and says the company has been working on refining its environmental efforts over the past two decades.
“It’s just really confusing. It’s sending the exact opposite message, because FIFA says that they want stadiums and cities to be sustainable…but then they do something like this, where they just actually make a whole bunch of municipalities, like Toronto, go backwards on their environmental policies,” Alfred said.
