plastic free campuses

Brown University’s Beyond the Bottle was formed in February, 2009, when a few members of the environmental student group emPOWER Brown, in part inspired by the bottled water ban at Washington University in St. Louis, Brown decided that they wanted to take on a bottled water campaign on their campus.

Beyond the BottleSemester 1: Spring 2009

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This school has started to recycle with special attention on separating out plastic bottles from being sent to the landfill.  In addition, 'la tiendita' is reducing the bottled beverages sold to reduce the amount of waste.  In addition, the school has engaged in plastic pollution education/outreach, especially with regard to the ocean.

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This school has started a recycling program, separating plastic bottles from landfill waste.  In addition, coffee is now being served in reusable mugs instead of disposables.  Education and outreach around plastic pollution in the ocean is also under way.

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This high school has substituted all disposable plastic in the cafeteria for reusables dishware.  In addition, Styrofoam has been banned for five years already.

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Students at Syracuse University started a Sustainability Club on campus.  The students chose bottled water as their core environmental campaign and held a water taste test in the Schine Student Center Atrium on Feb. 20, 2012.  They offered unmarked samples of bottled water, tap water and filtered tap water to passing by students, and then asked which sample they preferred. Although some people correctly identified the bottled water sample, more than half of the 86 participants said they preferred the taste of the tap or filtered tap water. 

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SPSU will provide every on-campus freshman with a refillable water bottle and tips to conserve water. In addition, there are water stations to fill bottles throughout the campus.  The bottles are part of a new initiative to provide incoming Freshman with a sustainability toolkit.

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Macalester College haseliminated the sale and provision of bottled water as part of its overall sustainability and climate neutrality initiatives. In addition to reducing its carbon footprint, this change provides a healthier environment, promotes social justice, and builds a stronger economy.  In addition, new water fountains have been installed on campus that have a cumulative electronic indicator of how many bottles of water you save by filling your water at the filling station.

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At Oakwood, a student group called the Green Gorillas will be taking on plastic pollution.  Their goal is to ban bottled water and to create a culture of students that use reusable water bottles in their daily lives.

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River Springs Charter School in Fallbrook, CA will be exploring the impact of plastics on human health and the impact of discarded plastics on the environment. Students will be writing a children's book to inform elementary studentson the topic of plastic pollutino, creating a museum-style informative display for the local library, and making a presentation to the City Council to try and ban plastic shopping bags in Fallbrook.

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Ben Bezark, Program Manager for Plastic Free Campuses, spoke with students at Weston HS in April 2012 about the issue of plastic pollution and steps that students can take to limit plastic consumption on campus. The school Superintendent and manager of the Food Service program were on hand, and students and administrators spoke about opportunities and challenges in reducing disposable plastic on campus.

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