Reducing Plastic…as a Community

After reading and commenting on the blog posts of fellow students who were taking on similar sustainable behavior changes, I felt more motivated and recognized even more benefits to going bottle-free. When reading other peoples’ posts, I noticed that they were motivated by the same alarming statistics about plastic as I was. The huge amounts of energy used to produce bottles, the extremely low percentage of plastic that is recycled, and the fact that bottled water is no cleaner (in some parts of the world) than tap water are factors that influenced us to make a change. While I focused on mostly environmental impacts, it was interesting to hear about the other benefits to cutting down on plastic. Observations were made about how much money we were saving, how much cleaner our rooms were, and how many more options there were at Lower when plastic bottles weren’t part of our 4 meal items. I was glad to read peoples’ comments on my posts that reveal mutual struggles that came along with our behavior changes. It was also relieving to know that I was not the only one to forget my bottle over the past few weeks and have to resist buying another one. I also learned about biological impacts of plastic waste that made me stop and think even more each time I was tempted to leave my reusable bottle behind. The posts I read sounded enthusiastic and genuinely supportive of making environmental behavior changes at the school. Throughout the SBC community, I think most people would agree that making the switch to using reusable water bottles or bags has not been too difficult. Forgetfulness and habit may have led to a few slip-ups, but overall we are seeing that the benefits outweigh the costs.