We all know that its important to start your New Year off right. So, for January’s monthly Sustainability Outreach event, we decided to help students and staff with their New Years Resolution and encouraged them to pledge to reduce their consumption of disposable water bottles and plastic grocery bags. We even provided a reusable water bottle or reusable bag as an incentive. Thanks to all 47 students and staff who signed the pledge!
Now you may be wondering why this is important. Here are a few facts about the problems associated with the consumption of bottled drinks:
- In the US, we use enough plastic bottles to circle the globe…twice…each week.
- More water is wasted during the production process than ends up in the final product. The Pacific Institute estimates that for every liter sold, it represents 3 liters of water.
- The plastic used for bottling in the US uses about 17 million barrels of crude oil. That’s enough to fuel 1.3 million cars for a full year.
- The energy used to produce plastic bottles in the US is enough to power almost 200,000 homes.
- The entire process of bottling and transporting the product produces about 2.5 million tons of carbon dioxide (a greenhouse gas that contributes to global warming) annually, as estimated by the Pacific Institute.
We encourage you to do some research of your own and learn more about the dangers of using so much plastic, and maybe even find some great alternatives to purchasing bottled water.
If you are interested in signing this pledge but were not able to attend the event, click on the image below. We appreciate your support for sustainability!