Students ready to reduce water bottle waste
Tina Korbe
Issue date: 9/19/08 Section: News
A UA Sustainability Council initiative to encourage students to replace disposable water bottles with refillable ones is both environmentally and economically sound, students said, but if the initiative segues into a ban on the sale of such bottles, it could be a cause for concern.
At this point, though, the water bottle replacement project, which was unanimously adopted by the Sustainability Council at its Aug. 26 meeting, is "a completely voluntary, educational plan," according to a PowerPoint presentation of the project proposal.
"We want to create an education program, and the idea is that hopefully people will voluntarily switch from bottled water to refillable bottles," said Robert Cross, co-chairman of the water resources working group that developed the proposal.
The campaign calls first for the distribution of information about the energy costs associated with water bottle usage. The Sustainability Council also plans to involve student groups.
The Associated Student Government already is on board.
"We don't want this to be the administration pushing something on us," ASG vice president Jong Shin said. "We want this to be a student-driven initiative with the administration sort of guiding us on it."
Shin, who also serves as the co-chairman of the Sustainability Council, said he was "dumbfounded" when he learned how much energy is required to make, cool and transport plastic water bottles.
Last year, the U.S. population is estimated to have consumed 30 million water bottles. The energy it took to produce those bottles is roughly equivalent to the amount needed to produce 50 million barrels of oil, Cross said. Bottled water also costs about a thousand times more than tap water. Three or four liters of water are required to produce one liter of bottled water.
"To me, [this project] is a no-brainer because of the money savings, because of the energy savings, because of the waste reduction," Cross said.
At this point, though, the water bottle replacement project, which was unanimously adopted by the Sustainability Council at its Aug. 26 meeting, is "a completely voluntary, educational plan," according to a PowerPoint presentation of the project proposal.
"We want to create an education program, and the idea is that hopefully people will voluntarily switch from bottled water to refillable bottles," said Robert Cross, co-chairman of the water resources working group that developed the proposal.
The campaign calls first for the distribution of information about the energy costs associated with water bottle usage. The Sustainability Council also plans to involve student groups.
The Associated Student Government already is on board.
"We don't want this to be the administration pushing something on us," ASG vice president Jong Shin said. "We want this to be a student-driven initiative with the administration sort of guiding us on it."
Shin, who also serves as the co-chairman of the Sustainability Council, said he was "dumbfounded" when he learned how much energy is required to make, cool and transport plastic water bottles.
Last year, the U.S. population is estimated to have consumed 30 million water bottles. The energy it took to produce those bottles is roughly equivalent to the amount needed to produce 50 million barrels of oil, Cross said. Bottled water also costs about a thousand times more than tap water. Three or four liters of water are required to produce one liter of bottled water.
"To me, [this project] is a no-brainer because of the money savings, because of the energy savings, because of the waste reduction," Cross said.
Viewing Comments 1 - 3 of 4
Maxwell
posted 9/22/08 @ 11:48 AM CST
There is an easy way to eliminate hundreds of throusands of emtpy water bottles on your campus each year. There is a new vending machine out that processes tap water and turns it into great tasting drinking water and then fills your own refillable bottle, on the spot. (Continued…)
John DeForest
posted 10/13/08 @ 9:35 AM CST
In response to Watkin's comment about "Why water bottles? Why not Coke Bottles..." I say that why wouldn't one start at water bottles. It is the easiest problem to fix. (Continued…)
Cindy Cox
posted 11/01/08 @ 11:42 PM CST
This whole thing seems silly to me.
Saying that Tap Water is as safe as bottled water is misleading.
Ive never known of bottled water having a smell like we get from the tap during the "Turn Over" of our water supply. (Continued…)
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