Sep 18, 2019 - Technology

Facebook issues ban on plastic water bottles in new offices

Ursula Perano

Photo: Chesnot/Getty Images

Facebook announced on Wednesday a ban on single-use plastic water bottles at its new global offices, the San Francisco Chronicle reports.

The state of play: This appears to be the largest ban from a private employer, impacting the company's roughly 40,000 employees. The Big Tech company will instead offer water-filling stations in its employee cafeterias in Burlingame, San Francisco, Fremont and Sunnyvale, California, and will install filling stations in its existing Menlo Park headquarters.

What they're saying:

"It's really about us thinking about our sustainability goals ... and being a good corporate steward."

— Juan Salazar, Facebook's director of local policy and community engagement

Activists argue plastic water bottles are wasteful and increase pollution through both repeated production and disposal.

Of note: The ban comes just 1 month after San Francisco International Airport banned single-use plastic bottles as well.

Go deeper: Special report: Our plastic planet

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Facebook issues ban on plastic water bottles in new offices

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