The College of St. Benedict used to like bottled water enough to affix its logo to the plastic and hand it out at alumni events. Macalester College did the same.
But bottled water isn’t welcome anymore.
This fall, the Minnesota schools are joining a national movement to ban disposable Dasani and its ilk from campus cafeterias and admissions offices. St. Ben’s recently became the first school in the state — and the ninth in the nation — to ban the sale and purchase of plain bottled water on campus. Macalester will start a similar policy Sept. 1.
No bottled water sold at soccer games or in vending machines. No bottled water given out at staff picnics or on campus tours.
These campus bans are part of a broader eco-unease with the $11-billion U.S. bottled water industry. Dozens of cities, including San Francisco and New York, have banned bottles of water from being bought with city money. Others have considered banning it from being sold within city limits.
Today’s college students believe that the water is costly and wasteful. As Macalester senior Clare Pillsbury put it: “We don’t buy bottled water.”
Read the full story at the Minnesota Tribune.
Photo credit: Diego_3336 (Flickr Creative Commons)
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