Think outside the bottle

UConn’s new eco-friendly initiative, Think Outside the Bottle, invites students to choose tap water and the new “hydration stations” on campus as an alternative to bottled water in an effort to make UConn a more sustainable campus.

Reusable, BPA-free water bottles were distributed to first year students and UConn staff last Friday to kickoff the initiative, according to Friday’s Daily Digest post, “Think Outside the Bottle Initiative & Distribution.”

Providing students and staff with reusable water bottles, funded by the University of Connecticut Professional Employees Association and The American Association of University Professors, as well as installing hydration stations on campus allows UConn students to save money and reduce their ecological footprint, according to UConn’s Office of Environmental Policy.

“It’s a good initiative for UConn to implement. Now that I live off campus I notice how big of an issue recycling really is, now that my roommates and I have to do it ourselves,” says Shane Milan, a 7th semester UConn student. “Reducing the amount of waste caused by plastic water bottles will help make UConn greener than it already is.”

The Think Outside the Bottle campaign goes beyond UConn’s campus, and is being implemented nationwide to make participating communities greener and take a stand against corporations who capitalize on “our most essential public resource,” according to stopcorporateabuse.com, a Think Outside the Bottle participant.

The facts about tap water are offered on the UConn Office of Environmental Policy website, www.ecohusky.uconn.edu.

Tap water is safer than bottled water because of the EPA standards placed on public drinking supply systems which checks the water for more than 15 possible contaminants, a requirement that is not applicable to bottled water, according to UConn’s Office of Environmental Policy.

Students can currently replenish their reusable water bottles at four hydration station locations on campus, in addition to water fountains and taps. The hydration stations can be found in the Student Union, McMahon Residence Hall, The Recreation Facility, and the Facilities Building. Students can expect to see more refill stations being installed soon, according to UConn’s Office of Environmental Policy.