In efforts to promote tap water usage over the sale of single-use plastic bottled water on campus, members in the Climate Justice League Take Back the Tap campaign met with the University’s student affairs, housing and athletics, as well as EMU representatives on July 5th to discuss points about moving forward with the initiative.
Multiple meetings with these administrative figures have voiced similar concerns that prohibiting the sale of bottled water and transitioning over to reusable containers effects customer demand and the financial impact from its generated revenue. But the Climate Justice League aims to fulfill its goal of a plastic bottle-free campus by the end of summer through necessary steps in gaining approval by University President Richard Lariviere @@http://directory.uoregon.edu/telecom/directory.jsp?p=findpeople%2Ffind_results&m=staff&d=person&b=name&s=Richard+Lariviere@@and the vice president of Student Affairs Robin Holmes.@@http://directory.uoregon.edu/telecom/directory.jsp?p=findpeople%2Ffind_results&m=staff&d=person&b=name&s=Robin+Holmes@@
“There’s a real concrete goal of discontinuing bottled water on campus and fit into the climate justice league mission because from all of the bottles that are produced and transported have huge oil consumption,” said Terra Smith,@@http://www.climatejusticeleague.org/category/blog/uncategorized/@@ former campaign coordinator for Take Back the Tap.
Take Back the Tap, a trademark of Food and Water Watch, focuses on the excessive waste of bottled water from an economic and environmental standpoint, and the benefits of reusable containers. According to climatejusticeleague.org, 17.6 million barrels of oil go into producing 29.8 billion plastic water bottles in the United States every year. And on average, three times the amount of water goes into the production and transportation of bottled water.
Louisa de Heer, @@http://directory.uoregon.edu/telecom/directory.jsp?p=findpeople%2Ffind_results&m=staff&d=person&b=name&s=Louisa+de+Heer@@the University’s student sustainability coordinator who has shown support for Take Back the Tap, says the bottled water industry subsists on the criticism of “manufactured demand,” which is marketing bottled water as inferior to tap water.
“In reality, bottled water is tap water but less regulated, less frequently tested, and thousands of times more expensive,” de Heer said. “Campuses have the ability and the responsibility to generate new knowledge; the education of ourselves about why bottled water is problematic at every level possible is one crucial piece of our societal evolution towards maintaining functional and habitable ecosystems.”
More than 20 universities and colleges nationwide have already adopted Take Back the Tap on a campus-wide or department ban basis, including University of Portland, Seattle University, New York University and Stanford University. For Stanford, Sustainability Coordinator Jiffy Vermylen @@http://sustainable.stanford.edu/program_staff@@says Stanford Dining has worked to eliminate bottled water beyond dining halls. It is now banned in various eateries and at major campus events such as Commencement and Homecoming.@@http://special.registerguard.com/csp/cms/sites/web/news/cityregion/25433871-46/bottled-students-student-tap-university.csp@@
“At Stanford there is not a blanket policy addressing bottled water,” Vermylen said. “The topic is left to the discretion of each operational entity and department to evaluate this topic as it relates to group-specific needs.”
Smith says Take Back the Tap has received support from Campus Recycling, Fraternity and Sorority Life, and various student groups on campus. To encourage student interest, the Climate Justice League has installed more than 25 spigots, posted informative fliers and tabled at IntroDucktion to educate and to hand out reusable water bottles. The EMU dining is also planning a pilot program for Take Back the Tap, which is in development and slated to launch in the fall.
“It’s going take having more meetings where we talk out to finalize a policy where everyone opinions and comments, and concerns can be incorporated into it,” Smith said.