Beyond the Bottle is a student initiative to reduce the consumption of single-use bottled water on the Brown campus, and is supported by Brown Dining.
How Beyond the Bottle started
In late 2008, a "Beyond the Bottle" student group identified the high sales volume of bottled water in Brown Dining eateries as an obstacle to Brown's campus sustainability efforts. The students reached out to us and in the spring of 2009, educational signage was put up in Josiah's and the Ivy Room to test the effect on bottled water sales. We also surveyed our customers to better understand why our customers purchased these bottles, how aware they were of the environmental impacts and how receptive they were to alternatives. 399 students, staff and faculty responded. Here is a snapshot of some ideas from the survey:
Concerns about single-use bottled water
- Energy waste to truck water from faraway, when Providence taps are rated #2 in the country
- Plastic waste, given the low recycling rate especially for bottled water
- Expensive
- Health concerns about single-use plastics
Concerns about eliminating bottled water
- Convenience
- What happens when customers forget their reusable water bottles?
- Will customers turn to soda instead?
Using the results of the survey, we formed a plan with the Beyond the Bottle group in fall 2009 to make dramatic reductions to the volume of bottled water we sell in our retail and catering operations. We were concerned about the effect of reduced sales of a popular product on our budget during a challenging economic time, but we believe that these reductions are an important step toward sustainability and important to our customers.
Changes you'll be seeing around campus
Here are the changes we are making:
- In Retail Eateries:
- Availability of reusable, stainless steel water bottles for $7 at Friedman, Little Jo's (second photo on left)
- Educational signage about bottled water waste issues
- Upgraded water fountains in the Ivy Room, Jo's and the Gate, as well as around campus
- In Catering:
- Water stations, with options for whole fruit infusions: lemon, lime, orange and pineapple (third photo on left)