ban the bottle � orgtheory.net

ban the bottle orgtheory.net

When I was visiting the Bay Area a couple of years ago I heard about a movement among San Francisco city workers to ban bottled water distribution on city property (I think they eventually made this a policy). The “ban the bottle” movement has now started to take hold on U.S. university and college campuses. Student-led environmental activist groups are leading the way, pushing administrations to consider adopting more environmentally-sustainable policies. Here’s this description of an early success from Inside Higher Ed:

Many in the “Ban the Bottle” camp are taking inspiration from Washington University in St. Louis, where university money is not supposed to be spent on bottled water — the sale of which is banned on campus as of January 1 (although it’s still being sold in one market through March 15 due to a contractual obligation).

Washington University officials have been flooded with dozens of requests for information — how’d they do it? — and on Friday they hosted a conference call explaining how. “I hope it can be one of those things that we can be the first domino that falls,” said Deborah Howard, special assistant to the executive vice chancellor of administration.

“It wouldn’t have been successful without the student campaign. We wouldn’t have done it. There’s too much resistance,” Howard said – resistance tied to revenues. While Washington saves money in not having to buy bottled water for catered events, “campuses make a lot of money in dining services and vending machines selling bottled water.”

This is an excellent example of the impact that student movements can have in creating market changes.