Sam Schleich wants to show students drinking water doesn’t need to come in little plastic bottles.

The Illinois senior is president of Take Back the Tap, a new registered student organization started at Central Michigan University after an internship she had with Food and Water Watch in Chicago. Schleich wanted to stay involved in the company’s efforts to providing safe and affordable water for everyone.

With two Nestle nearby, both of which distribute bottled water, Central Michigan University was the perfect place to begin, she said.

“It is important to bring the fight to where it’s happening, and college campuses are where change begins,” Schleich said.

The ultimate goal of the organization, which is part of a nationwide movement, is to eliminate the sale of bottled water at CMU. Schleich said they are not only harmful to the environment and people’s health, but they also take away sources of water from those who need it.

“If anything, we want to educate CMU students of the benefits of tap water and the risks behind bottled water,” Scleich said. “There is no good reason to have bottled water on campus.”

Krista Testolin, an Iron Mountain freshman, is a member of Take Back and feels passionately about helping the environment. She said water bottle production lacks regulation, which leads to issues in health and various ecosystems.

“We want to raise awareness and get the word out there about our cause,” Testolin said. “It may seem like a small step in the grand scheme of things, but eliminating water bottles would make a huge impact.”

Some students across campus are beginning to support the idea out of economic as well as ecological concerns.

Dustin Goncharoff said it takes relatively little effort to help the cause. The Dearborn junior uses a CamelBak, a refillable backpack with attached straw used to store drinking water.

“The water we get from the tap is reasonably good, and there is no need to waste money and effort on bottled water,” Goncharoff said.

Erika Schrand, a sophomore from Avoca, said she was enthused by the organizations’s efforts.

“I think it’s a great idea,” Schrand said. “Water bottles are so unnecessary and they usually end up in the garbage anyway.”

via [cm-life.com]

Students, staff and faculty at the University of Ottawa will no longer be able to buy a bottle of water to quench their thirst.

Starting today, the university has stopped the sale of bottled water on campus.

The university is encouraging members of its community to find other ways to quench their thirst for water, including filling up glasses and re-usable bottles at the nearest fountain or tap on campus.

The University of Ottawa has invested over $100-thousand to revitalize its water fountains, and will spend an additional $75-thousand next year.

The U of O is the first campus in Ontario to ban the sale of bottled-water.

Way to go U of O!

The government in Nova Scotia is taking serious steps help curb the sale of bottled water by committing to ban the sale of bottled water in provincial facilities.

The Polaris Institute notes:

Nova Scotia Premier Darrell Dexter used the annual convention of CUPE Nova Scotia to announce his government is committed to a ban on the sale of bottled water in all provincial facilities that have potable water.

Dexter told convention delegates he has asked the Department of the Environment to develop a policy that commits his government to this new practice.

The premier also said he expects to announce the details of pilot projects in the very near future.
Reacting to the announcement, CUPE Nova Scotia President Danny Cavanagh says, “This makes Nova Scotia the very first province in the country to commit to ending this environmentally unfriendly practice. It also tells Nova Scotians that this government is committed to promoting safe, clean, municipal drinking water.

“These are services that are provided by CUPE municipal workers across the province and something we are very proud of,” says Cavanagh.

“We are also proud to be part of the ‘Turn on the Taps and Ditch the Bottle’ Coalition that has been working to raise awareness on the issue of bottled water in Nova Scotia,” he says.

Across Canada municipalities and school boards, universities and colleges, faith-based organizations and restaurants are standing up for public water by taking out the bottle.

On September 1, 2010 the University of Ottawa, in collaboration with the Student Federation (SFUO), will be the first University in Ontario to put a complete and immediate stop to the sale of bottled water on its campuses. This is only one of many sustainable development initiatives undertaken by the university in recent years.

Students, faculty, staff and other members of the uOttawa community are encouraged to find other ways of quenching their thirst for water throughout the day, such as filling up cups, glasses and re-usable bottles at the nearest fountain or tap on campus.

Since 2008, the University of Ottawa has invested over $100,000 to revitalize its water fountains and an additional $75,000 will be invested next year.

The improvements include gooseneck fountains for quick and easy filling of re-usable bottles, new fountains near food service outlets, upgrades to existing fountains, wheelchair accessibility, stronger pressure and better refrigeration.

“Our green initiatives have had an impact on our students and community in two important ways. First, our initiatives have resulted in a cleaner environment for our community. Equally important, we’ve taken the $31 million in energy cost savings and invested the amount directly in education, support services and research — things that matter to our students, our faculty and our community,” stated Allan Rock, president of the University of Ottawa.

[via Inside the Bottle]

Hamilton, Ontario, a city with nearly 700,000 residents in Canada is considering banning the bottle. Well not quite. But the city is at least trying to start campaigns aimed at curbing bottled water sales.

The strategy is aimed at encouraging Hamiltonians to tap into the city water supply as much as possible while reducing reliance on bottled water.

Bottled water is big business in Canada. Sales of bottles of water less than 18 litres in size have soared to $430 million in 2006, up from $280 million in 2002.

But to address environmental concerns over waste and the loss of confidence in municipal tap water, some 39 Ontario municipalities have posted restrictions on bottled water in municipal facilities.

As well, in cities such as Toronto and London, Ont., where bottled water is banned from municipal premises companies have found a way around the prohibition by selling flavoured water products instead.

Read the full article here: http://www.thespec.com/News/Local/article/751866

Unlike our friends in Washington, landfills in North Carolina seem a little less dense these days.

The mid-Atlantic state recently banned disposing plastic bottles in landfills to help reduce trash and encourage recycling. This has become a practical issue in rural towns where curbside recycling is not offered. Winston-Salem Journal reports on how the problem was solved in one county. The president of Rural Garbage Services Inc. offered to pick them up for free: “In order to recycle their plastics, people in those areas would have to take them to one of the county’s three recycling centers…Parrish came up with a solution for his customers: His company would pick up the bottles from its customers for free.” Nice guy.

Although people could just hide the bottles in their trash, the law does seem to be having a positive effect.

More plastic bottles have been dropped off at the county’s three centers since the landfill bottle ban was imposed, according to the City-County Utilities Division. From a monthly average of around 14,000 pounds of plastic for the period from September 2008 to September 2009, collections have risen to an average of about 19,000 a month for the first three months since the ban went into effect.

[via TreeHugger]

What a great way to start 2010, with a new portable water bottle! And when we say portable, we mean portable! This water bottle can fit and fold into almost any space!

The Vapur bottle is a flexible botte that is
- Reusable
- Foldable
- Attachable
- Identifiable
- Freezable
- Cleanable
You have to check this bottle out!

http://vapur.us/products.php#

Students at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island, are doing their part to help reduce their plastic footprint by initiating a campus-wide plastic bottle plan this winter.

In a typical year, Brown University distributes as many as 250,000 bottles of water on campus. After some students started campaigning against using the bottles, the total dropped by 40,000.

By this time next year, some students hope the total will be zero.

That is the goal of the Beyond the Bottle Campaign, a student-run effort to eliminate bottled water on campus.

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