Laura Gillespie
10/28/14
3 Article Annotations
Should Universities Ban Bottled Water?
This article discusses the benefits of banning water bottles, specifically on college
campuses. Schools recognize the benefits of reduced single use bottle usage, but they do not
want to fully commit to banning bottles on their campus because of potential of protests from
students. Of course, protecting the environment is a main issue in this debate, because of the
plastic consumed and the impact of taking water from natural springs in large quantities for sales
in other places. Bottles that are not recycled take 1,000 years to biodegrade and release toxic
fumes when incinerated. Many resources, like energy, oil, and water are put into water bottle
production and distribution. Campus costs would be reduced, because schools would not have to
allocate so much money to selling bottles and would have to pay less for recycling and trash
disposal. The water in plastic bottles are not necessarily even healthier than tap water, because
the FDA allows for more contaminants and less strict testing. A Boston College article says that
“20 percent of all bottled water comes from tap water,” not a source that is “natural and less
accessible.” The University of California has had to make major budget cuts on employees, but
still spends hundreds of thousands of dollars on supplying people with bottled water on its
campuses. Bottled water costs more per ounce than gasoline and thousands more than tap water.
Banning plastic water bottles will give positive publicity to the college, and. Many colleges try to
focus on their LEED certified buildings and environmental clubs, and this simple initiative
would “paint the university in a positive light, attracting more students and boosting enrollment.”
The arguments the author pose against banning water bottles include convenience and health.
Bottled water is easier to get quickly instead of trying to fill up bottles or travel to water
fountains. In emergency situations having access to filtered water in bottles is important when
clean water is not available, like when there is water contamination or extended periods of travel
in locations with no purified water. Even just the simple idea that consumers have their choice in
buying water or not is a key factor in the debate. In an “economically free society” consumers
should have the choice to buy whatever bottles they want, even if it is not necessarily the best for
the environment or their wellbeing. Banning water bottles puts this choice into the hands of the
college administration. All of these issues are important for dealing with the idea of banning
water bottles on Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute’s campus. The benefits for switching are the
same as outlined above, but the decision to face might be addressed with the same issues
outlined in this article.
"Should Universities Ban Bottled Water?" Filtersfast.com. N.p., n.d. Web. 25 Oct. 2014. <
https://www.filtersfast.com/articles/Ban-bottled-water.php>
UVM Bans Plastic Water Bottles
In 2012, UVM became one of the first Universities to ban plastic water bottles on their
entire campus. The long-awaited systematic sustainable beverage policy has been developed for
years and has finally gotten to the point where it is now a reality. In addition to banning plastic
water bottles, the mandate states that one-third of all drinks in vending machines must be healthy
options. Coca-Cola provided “100 percent of beverages in vending machines and 80 percent of
bottled beverages served in retail, residential dining, and catering, totaling more than 1.1 million
bottles per year. That July the contract between Sodexo, the dining service provider, and CocaCola so they no longer had exclusive “pouring rights.” The University will have greater
flexibility in the options given to the students by choosing between beverages through national
contracts and local connections. This initiative was not put on by faculty or administration, but
rather students that put in many hours throughout their college career to work out the details. The
Vermont Student Environmental Program was the main organization for this program, and
addressed the water bottle issue with “Bring Your Own Bottle (BYOB) days and informational
tabling events.” Two former presidents of this organization were among the people at the front of
this issue. With the original efforts the amount of water bottles sold dropped significantly over 3
years. They collected 1,200 signatures from students supporting the resolution to move away
from single-use plastic bottles. The ban started in January 2013, so that there was a year for
fountains to be retrofitted with filling stations and for stores to make adjustments. This way,
students can bring reusable plastic bottles instead of constantly going to the water fountain. The
new contracts with multiple companies not only allows for there to be no plastic water bottles,
but gives the potential for more variety in beverages. Another campus group focuses on trying to
offer healthy options to students instead of bottled water, like flavored teas, fruit drinks, and
flavored water with no added sugar. The funds from the Coca-Cola contract will be used towards
a variety of different contracts, and the money saved will allow more money to go to student
financial aid. The athletics department will also have a new contract that will produce revenue
for the athletic teams. The University of Vermont is a very valid example that banning plastic
water bottles is possible and a violable option for RPI’s campus. It clearly outlines the steps
taken by the organizations at UVM, and from that we can gather what needs to be done here to
reach the same conclusion.
Reidel, Jon. "UVM One of First Universities to End Sales of Bottled Water, Mandate Healthy
Vending Options." University Communications. University of Vermont, 31 Jan. 2012.
Web. 28 Oct. 2014. <http://www.uvm.edu/~uvmpr/?Page=news&storyID=13129>.
Bottled Water Killing the Planet
Bottled water has become a universal accessory of modern life, and a major new study by
the Earth Policy Institute has released details about how the production is seriously damaging the
environment. Earth Policy Institute is a Washington-based environmental group; they have done
research in the past about the melting polar ice caps, expanding deserts and the environmental
threats of industrializing China. It costs 10,000 times more to produce bottled water than to
produce tap water, because “huge resources are needed to draw it from the ground, add largely
irrelevant minerals, and package and distribute it.” Their research shows that the world
consumed 154 billion liters of bottled water in 2004—an increase of 57 percent in half a decade.
Bottled water may have some benefits in locations with polluted or scarce water, but the report’s
author observes that “even in areas where tap water is safe to drink, demand for bottled water is
increasing—producing unnecessary garbage and consuming vast quantities of energy.”
Important activists and environmentalists have shown their approval for this study and discuss
concerns about the impact bottled water is currently having. One of the environmentalists points
out that “it is the great irony of the 21st century that the most basic things in the supermarket,
such as water and bread, are among the most expensive.” Another notes that bottled water wastes
resources and exacerbates climate change. The fastest growing source of greenhouse gases is
transport, and shipping plastic bottles of water across the world makes it worse. All of this
consumption and pollution would be avoided if people got into the habit of drinking their own
tap water. The process to deliver tap water is energy efficient, whereas huge amounts of fossil
fuels are used to produce single-use plastic bottles. Finnish water companies sent 1.4 million
bottles of water to Saudi Arabia in 2004. In the same year 26 billion liters of water were
produced for America using more than 1.5 million barrels of oil. This study shows that bottled
water is a huge unnecessary consumer of oil and energy and observes why bottled water is just a
useless commodity in today’s society. Even though the consequences of using bottled water
instead of tap are clear, the sale of bottles around the world continues to increase dramatically.
The Secretary of State for Environment states “it is obvious that there are big environmental
issues around bottled water, and people need to be made more aware of them.” This article
shows evidence of why bottled water is harmful to the environment and shows relevant facts to
support their case. This helps the argument to ban plastic water bottles here on RPI’s campus
because there are clear reasons single-use bottles are bad and should be eliminated.
Neale, Jon, and Jonathan Thompson. "Eau, No: Clean, Healthy and Pure? Hardly. Bottled Water
Is Killing the Planet." The Independent. Independent Digital News and Media, 12 Feb.
2006. Web. 26 Oct. 2014. <http://www.independent.co.uk/environment/eau-no-cleanhealthy-and-pure-hardly-bottled-water-is-killing-the-planet-466374.html>.