Washington University in St. Louis is cutting sales of disposable plastic water on campus.

“It costs society a lot more in energy and expense to bottle water than to have students head for the nearest hallway drinking fountain,” said Mat Malten, Washington University’s Assistant Vice Chancellor for Sustainability.

Coca-Cola, maker of Dasani, will stop selling bottled water in almost all campus locations by the end of the fall semester.  A few locations will continue to carry the bottled water until next spring due to contractual obligations.

In an email interview with the Central Florida Future.com, Malten said “We estimated that, for the same amount of bottled water we purchased last year (more than $100,000), the cost of the same volume of tap water would have been less than $50.00.

Kudos to Matt Malten and Washington University for their common sense!!!

Want to see an innovative way to use all your old water bottles - now that you’ve Taken The Pledge and given them up?!?  Check out this website and see how some guy built a house from them.  Even better, see the chandelier that someone made from 1 liter bottles!  Plastic Bottle House

Roadside Trash

Each day I take a walk and each day I’m confronted with an endless stream of water bottles, fruit juice bottles, and sports drink bottles littering the sides of the road and along the sidewalks.  The interesting thing about it is that, here in Michigan, I hardly ever see a soda - or, as we say “Pop” - bottle or can on the side of the road.  That’s because we have a 10 cent deposit law that works.  Over 90% of all beverage containers included under this law are returned for a refund.  Is it a royal pain in the neck?  You bet - but the results can be easily measured by the kind of trash we see by the road in Michigan.

According to the Beverage Industry website, sports drink sales were up 19.1% this year over last accounting for over 1.5 BILLION dollars in sales.  Although I’ve been hearing that bottled water sales are flattening, their sales for 2007 were up 6.9% over the year before - that stat is courtesy of Fine Waters - The Water Connoisseur website. (Huh? Yes, it’s for real.)  They also add that pop sales are declining.

So, what do we do?  Here in Michigan, we push for a deposit on ALL drinks - not just carbonated ones.  I would urge anyone not familiar with the success we’ve had with our “Bottle Bill” to read about it and investigate what you can do in your own state.  Check out The Bottle Bill Resource Guide and start taking action.