Bottled water sales will be restricted
by Sam Datlof
Staff writer
News | 4/7/09
Posted online at 7:34 AM EST on 4/7/09
Bottled water will no longer be sold in the Usdan Student Center Boulevard and Café in fall 2009 but will continue to be available at Einstein Bros. Bagels, the Provisions on Demand Market and other satellite food services around campus, according to Sustainable Development Representative Janna Cohen-Rosenthal '03.
The limited sales of bottled water on campus will be implemented at the beginning of the upcoming semester, Cohen-Rosenthal said. Bottled water will continue to be available at Einstein because it is not possible to place a sink there for people to refill their bottles, according to Cohen-Rosenthal.
The elimination of bottled water from Usdan is the result of recommendations from the Water Bottle Committee, a temporary committee formed in the fall of 2008 to address the "feasible reduction of bottled water" on campus, President of Students for Environmental Action Matthew Schmidt '11 said."There was a big push campuswide to evaluate the options and to see if we could make a decision as a university to reduce our bottled water," Schmidt said. He continued that cutting the sale of bottled water in Usdan is part of the result of this push.
While originally the reduction of bottled water on campus was going to happen this semester, the financial crisis and conflicting obligations stalled those plans, Cohen- Rosenthal said. She declined to go into further details about the conflicting obligations that were faced.
Last semester the committee asked the student body to participate in a survey to find out how students felt about the number of bottled water available on campus. With a 40-percent response rate, 80 percent of respondents stated their support for reduction in bottled water use.
In the past SEA has also "worked on providing every student a reusable metal water bottle," according to Schmidt, although not all students have claimed theirs. Offering free, reusable water bottles provides students with an alternative to bottled water.
The limited sales of bottled water on campus will be implemented at the beginning of the upcoming semester, Cohen-Rosenthal said. Bottled water will continue to be available at Einstein because it is not possible to place a sink there for people to refill their bottles, according to Cohen-Rosenthal.
The elimination of bottled water from Usdan is the result of recommendations from the Water Bottle Committee, a temporary committee formed in the fall of 2008 to address the "feasible reduction of bottled water" on campus, President of Students for Environmental Action Matthew Schmidt '11 said."There was a big push campuswide to evaluate the options and to see if we could make a decision as a university to reduce our bottled water," Schmidt said. He continued that cutting the sale of bottled water in Usdan is part of the result of this push.
While originally the reduction of bottled water on campus was going to happen this semester, the financial crisis and conflicting obligations stalled those plans, Cohen- Rosenthal said. She declined to go into further details about the conflicting obligations that were faced.
Last semester the committee asked the student body to participate in a survey to find out how students felt about the number of bottled water available on campus. With a 40-percent response rate, 80 percent of respondents stated their support for reduction in bottled water use.
In the past SEA has also "worked on providing every student a reusable metal water bottle," according to Schmidt, although not all students have claimed theirs. Offering free, reusable water bottles provides students with an alternative to bottled water.
Be the first to comment on this story