It’s believed to be the largest ban of its kind in Australia and the first across a university. Organisers say the ban will stop 140,000 PET plastic bottles from being sold annually. Instead, in campus cafes and shops, students will have access to Azure water vending machines that refill a 600ml drinking bottle with chilled water for $1, or sparkling water for $1.50.
Jon Dee, founder of activist group Do Something!, which helped organise the ban following a student campaign, said: ”This sets a model that other universities can follow. We’re talking to several universities that have already expressed interest. By supplying free water and cheap, chilled water, the university will be helping students to break a bottled water habit that’s costing Australians half a billion dollars a year.”
A survey two years ago by the Plastics and Chemicals Industries Association estimated that more than half the plastic bottles sold in Australia end up in landfill rather than being recycled.
Jon Dee said government statistics suggested more than 105m litres of oil was used to produce the bottled water bought in Australia each year. This translated to an annual 126,000 tonnes in greenhouse gas emissions.
Mark Rhodes, marketing manager for The Really Cool Water Company, added: “Our distributor partner based in Sydney has obviously been very proactive with placements of the Azure, and it just goes to show there are eco-friendly and viable alternatives to 500ml PET bottles. As an industry, we need to face up to the fact that there our customers are not as pro-PET bottles as they once where, and change is coming!”
Source: Westomatic Vending Services
© FoodBev Media Ltd 2024