Photo: fhemerickA friend at another university tells me that his school is banning the sale of bottled water on campus, as the university administration is bothered by the pollution produced by plastic water bottles.
Presumably, they figure that bottled-water consumers will switch to tap water, as tap water is bottled water’s closest substitute. I wonder — aren’t bottled soft drinks a closer substitute? Don’t people want the convenience of a container at their desk rather than an occasional drink at the water cooler (or a cup to be filled at the water cooler)?
This ban may well simply lead to substitution from bottled water to bottled soft drinks, with no reduction in pollution. Worse still, people will be substituting caloric soft drinks for zero-calorie water, so that the ban will help increase obesity among students and staff.
University bureaucrats clearly don’t think about substitution by consumers, or about unintended consequences of quantity restrictions. Even by well-known standards of bureaucratic shortsightedness, this one is a real achievement.
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Perhaps the problem is that these drinks are simply too convenient. How about a tax/regulatory scheme that ensures that the price per bottle is not a multiple of $0.25. That way, people will have to carry nickels and dimes, either before or after the purchase.
While I usually bring my own water, on the rare occasions when I do buy bottled water it’s a substitute for buying a bottled soft drink. If bottled water is banned, it won’t reduce my use of plastic bottles one bit.
Oh good grief! A lot of ‘bottled water’ is glorified municipal water anyway. The convenience factor can be taken care of by a reusable cup or bottle brought from home. Why believe the marketeers that H2O is ‘better’ if you pay more and add to the waste stream?
As a student at the unmentioned university, I have to disagree with the post. The effort is coupled with a plan to make available “Nalgene” or similar reusable containers. Each incoming student is given a reusable container (some made from corn-based plastics), which can be used to fill up on tap water (according to a survey, our city has the best tasting tap water in the country) or used to purchase any of the available soft-drinks at a discounted price.
The idea is to cut waste on throw-away containers and increase sustainability.
I agree with #2 – sugar soft drinks aren’t a feasible substitute for water to most ardent water drinkers, including this one.
I frequently carry around a *larger* water bottle intended to be refillable.
I suspect that *that* will represent a frequent substitution.
Students that are accustomed to carrying around water bottles may replace disposable ones by ones that are “less disposable.” That is likely to have an increased one-time cost, but refilling from a tap is mighty cheap!
Why create a vacuum?
Instead, why don’t they provide water cooler stations where people can refill their containers with branded filtered or mineral water for, say, 50-75 cents for a 16-oz. bottle?
Everybody wins — people get the water they want at a reduced price, and there’s less waste from discarded bottles.
I’m sure they could cut a deal with one of the major bottlers to do it.
I disagree that soft drinks would replace the water bottles.
Atleast where I live (Finland) people these days tend to carry an old water or soft drink bottle in their bag and fill that with tap water when necessary.
I would imagine that giving out free reusable Nalgene-type bottles would make a large difference. My employer recently gave everyone a free coffee mug with the intention/effect of virtually eliminating the use of styrofoam coffee cups.