CampusNews

Eco-friendly water bottles could help the environment save students money

Black and yellow reusable plastic water bottles are now available at all Associated Students, Inc. vendors.

Associated Students, Inc. transitioned from selling plastic water bottles to reusable water bottles that are now available to purchase at all ASI vendor locations including, the Games Center, University Student Union Information and Ticket Center and the Candy Corner.

These reusable bottles will cost $2 and $15, the difference between the two being quality, offering both a high-end and an inexpensive option to students.

Students will have the choice of choosing between two different water bottles, a CSULB-themed black or yellow bottle with the school’s logo printed on it.

ASI began planning to phase out disposable water bottles and replace them with reusable bottles last year, and chair of the University Student Union board Brian Sath said he hopes it will have a positive impact on the environment and campus community. “Essentially, we won’t be making much off of this but any profit we make, we want to put it towards our ASI Beach Pantry,” Sath said. “We want to serve our students as best we can.”

The ASI Beach Pantry offers non-perishable food to aid students who experience food insecurity numerous times a week.

The first step was cleaning their shelves of all disposable plastic water bottles, such as SmartWater, Dasani and Aquafina. The next step, Sath said, is to increase awareness of these reusable water bottles in order to encourage students to purchase one of their own and ditch the environmental and financial costs of plastic.

“We want our whole campus to be sustainable, once we have them on the shelves we want to do a digital campaign to spread the message,” Sath said. “We want people to get something out of this. It’s going to be affordable and reusable to save the environment. We are working towards a more reusable campus and learning more about sustainability.”

The goal is to utilize water hydration stations around campus, but students have mixed feelings about the reusable bottles..

“I think that’s pretty cool because it’s sustainable for the environment and allows us to use less plastic,” said Thy Vu, a third year business marketing major. “However, at the same time I think a lot of students have reusable bottles already so it probably won’t be a popular item.”

Though many students agree switching to reusable water bottles will help the environment, there are opposing sides as to whether or not they should altogether stop selling plastic water bottles on campus.

Freshman computer science major Nicole Reinking said that while she wouldn’t buy a reusable bottle because she already has her own, she thinks ASI is onto something productive. “I do think that it is a good idea to encourage other students to bring their own reusable water bottles or buy one. Water bottles that you throw away can produce a lot of waste if you don’t recycle them.”

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1 Comment

  1. Your thoughts have been truly inspirational. You make a good point about what change can student approach towards saving the environment.

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