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Aren’t you tired of being asked to buy wrapping paper, candy, popcorn, cookie dough, or magnets at your children’s schools? The offerings are often way overpriced, useless, or just plain bad tasting. Last fall, when I was trying to figure out what sort of environmental project to do at my son’s school, the PTO president complained to me about the girl scouts drinking bottled water at their meetings and how great it would be if they would use reusable bottles. It was like a lightening strike in my mind. YES! That is exactly what we need – reusable bottles for everyone! We convinced the PTO to sell stainless steel water bottles school-wide and make it a green fundraiser. Before it was all said and done, it was a town-wide school fundraiser, involving seven schools – the first one of its kind in town. We decided to price the bottles close to retail prices to keep them affordable and still generate some profit for the school. We ended up selling 1500 bottles to a school population of 3500 students and raising over $8000! This was truly something novel: we sold something useful and earth-friendly while raising money for the school. A win – win – win!
Bottled water has become so deeply entrenched in our society that some people can’t even imagine how to provide water at an event without it. Say what? Maybe I’m going to show my age here, but I actually remember living a good hydrated life, attending events, and even hosting events before anyone had thought of putting tap water in a disposable plastic bottle and charging 1000 times more for it! Based on my experience BBW (before bottled water), I have come up with some ABCs for getting by without bottled water at your school with ease:
water cooler
Access to tap water
Provide access to drinking water throughout the school by maintaining water fountains and cleaning them daily. Better yet, upgrade to bottle-less water coolers in the cafeteria and in hallways and install a water filter on the tap in the teachers’ lounge. Offering chilled filtered tap water will allay concerns about the spreading of germs at the water fountains, taste of tap water, and water quality.
Custom water bottles
Bottles that are reusable
Request that students, teachers, parents, and other visitors to the school bring their own reusable bottles or mugs to school each day and to all special events. Consider having a reusable bottle fundraiser or simply issuing school water bottles to every student. Custom water bottles with the school logo are a big hit with students. Monies raised can be used to fund water coolers!
Containers for serving
Pitchers filled from the faucet or from water coolers can be used to serve tap water to students in their class rooms. Large portable coolers filled with the help of a pitcher can be used to dispense tap water at large gatherings. For those who forget their reusable bottles, it is important to have some biodegradable disposable cups on hand and a recycling bin to collect them.
Pitcher
Portable cooler
Bottle free bliss
All in all, becoming a bottle free school is not as daunting as it sounds. Life was good BBW! Putting the ABCs in place is easier and cheaper than you’d expect. The key to getting cooperation from the entire community will be establishing and communicating a school-wide bottled water policy and letting everyone know you’ve got the ABCs covered.
You’ll be glad you did because eliminating bottled water at your school will simplify planning and clean up for events, reduce the volume of waste, save parents money, model a sustainable lifestyle for students, as well as reap significant environmental benefits for everyone.
It always feels good when a Back2Tap campaign at a school goes right. I was so psyched to hear that the reusable bottles and bottle-less water coolers were well received by the K-12 students at Lincoln – Hubbard School in Summit, NJ. So well, in fact, the students are lining up in the hallway to fill up their custom reusable bottles from Back2Tap. The kids say that they love the tap water because it is so cold and refreshing.
students refilling their reusable water bottles
Bottle-less coolers are tied directly into the water line and provide cold, filtered tap water without the waste, expense and exposure to plastics found with traditional water coolers with the 5 gallon jugs that have to be delivered. Although Back2Tap does not sell bottle-less water coolers, we can recommend a manufacturer. Lincoln – Hubbard was able to use the profits from their stainless steel bottle fundraiser toward the purchase of the coolers. Best of all, this is one green initiative that will save the school money and the parents money while benefitting students health and ability to learn.
It was a true pleasure to get a phone call from Susan Murray, parent and owner of Waste Not Solutions of Little Silver, NJ. She described a community that wanted to take a proactive step and invest some of its precious Environmental Commission dollars in the community’s children and schools.
Led by Rosemary Brewer, the Little Silver Environmental Commission graciously donated 1000 custom, stainless steel water bottles to the students and staff at Point Road and Markham Place schools in New Jersey. The commission’s goal was to help students reduce the number of disposable plastic water bottles they use and to make a positive impact on the environment.
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- Students enjoying Back2Tap reusable bottles
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- Check out our cool bottles!
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- Back2Tap reusable stainless steel bottles
The school created additional enthusiasm for the program by holding a logo design contest for the students. The winner was rewarded with their logo on the schools’ bottles. The result is a fantastic graphic. Bravo Little Silver!
Back2Tap reusable steel bottles
Back2Tap reusable stainless steel bottles
When I first started my search for the best reusable bottle for our school fundraiser in the fall of 2007, I came across warnings about a variety of chemicals that could leach out of various types of bottles into drinks. Some claims seemed far fetched – especially the one about plastic bottles that are put in the freezer, but some claims seemed legitimate. Digging a little deeper, I found credible scientific sources who concluded that Bisphenol A (BPA) can leach out of plastic and is not a good chemical to ingest, even in small concentrations. BPA is a hormone disruptor that can affect the reproductive system and the nervous system, especially in children and infants. I quickly ruled out any plastic bottle that contained BPA – at the time, all Nalgene and Camelback bottles.
After eliminating the hard plastic (polycarbonate) bottles to avoid BPA, I considered the metal bottles: aluminum and stainless steel. Aluminum bottles have to be lined with something because aluminum is reactive. We steered away from Sigg because their bottles had openings too narrow for ice cubes and proper washing and drying. But we were also concerned about that liner. What was it made of? Would it wear and crack with use or abuse? Little did I imagine that Sigg’s aluminum bottles actually contained BPA and they were keeping that information from consumers while the BPA concern was growing! Ultimately, we chose stainless steel because it’s non-reactive and doesn’t need a liner. Stainless steel has also been around for decades and hasn’t been found to leach anything harmful into drinks.
Fast forward to 2009 – some reusable bottle companies have come up with a new type of hard plastic that doesn’t contain BPA and Sigg can now line their bottles with a liner that doesn’t have BPA, but you know what? I’m not sure I am willing to trust that this new plastic bottle and new liner are any better and that the companies would admit it if they weren’t better. Given Sigg’s years of misinformation about BPA, I’m just not sure anymore, so I’m sticking with stainless steel reusable bottles! Naturally, BPA-free!
Starting a small business has presented many new experiences as well as frequent moments when my partners and I look at each other and say – “Wow, did you ever think you’d be doing this?” Dragging all our props into the convention center last Tuesday was definitely one of those moments. We had no idea what to expect or how Back2Tap would compare to the other exhibitors. Our booth turned out to be much better than some minimally adorned booths and pleasantly less commercial and cluttered than some big-time commercial fundraising company booths. We offered free tap water, a much less exciting option than the free pizza, cheesecake, chocolate and candies offered at other booths, but those who partook were quite grateful to quench their thirst with a healthy alternative.
One of the best parts of the day turned out to be watching people’s expressions as they first looked at our booth – they seemed puzzled but curious. Why was there a giant tower made of plastic bottles? What exactly was Back2Tap selling? Tap water? It took about 2-3 minutes to explain why bottled water is so wasteful and how selling Back2Tap stainless steel bottles as a green fundraiser could help the planet and help a school community. Only one person had heard of us, and only two people had considered this type of fundraising campaign. No other exhibitors offered a customized green fundraising item. Most of the other fundraising companies were offering the same old items- knickknacks, clothes, and unhealthy foods. Clearly, we were offering something new and different to the PTO Today audience.
For most of the day, all four of us were busy giving our elevator pitches to groups PTO parents as they wandered by our booth. I couldn’t help but notice that the booth across the aisle that had attracted lots of attention in the morning with its screen show and four active salespeople had quieted down by mid-day whereas we were still going strong. I think we were able to maintain our enthusiasm because we really believe that our cause, reducing plastic waste, is good beyond profits, and we get genuinely excited by convincing other people of that.
We noticed that some exhibitors had signs boasting of 55% profit margins for their customers. Is this number the best measure of a fundraising option? High profit margins usually mean the items are overpriced to the customer or are very cheaply made. We know from firsthand experience as parents and PTO volunteers that parents resent being asked to pay too much for fundraising items and lose enthusiasm when they are offered the same items they really don’t want year after year. This is why we chose to offer high quality reusable bottles priced close to retail with a 20-30% payback.
Tim Sullivan of PTO Today concurs in his March 2009 PTO Today article entitled: “More to Fundraising Than Profit”. Sullivan writes: “The best PTOs and PTAs aim to create a great community at their school, to grow parent involvement, to serve parents, and to help provide valuable resources for the school and the students.” This is exactly what Back2Tap is trying to do – spread a green movement through the school communities that will bring people together around a shared sense of concern and desire to do something good for the planet, for themselves and for their school.
One day last week I picked my son up early from school for his annual physical. While at school, I checked out the brand new high-demand water cooler in the school cafeteria. The PTO purchased it with money raised during a Back2Tap reusable stainless steel bottle fundraiser. The installation of this cooler represents an exciting synergy between environmental protection, student health, and learning. The cooler is intended to encourage students to refill their reusable bottles so that they will drink more water (tap water rather than bottled), thereby reducing waste, improving health, and fostering learning.
As a Back2Tap fundraising coordinator last year, I had done some research on water coolers for schools and learned that Great Britain is a leader in this area. There is even a “Water Cooler ‘Point of Use’ Guidance for Schools” by Joe Harvey, Director of the Health Education Trust, an independent British charity. This 18-page document argues for installation of coolers in all schools (1 for every 200 people) and explains how to manage them efficiently. The guide quotes Ann Keen (Department of Health Under-Secretary) saying: “good hydration helps to reduce tiredness, irritability, and increases concentation. It contributes to a more settled and productive learning environment.” I was already aware that a healthy breakfast improved learning, but the importance of good hydration in education was new to me.
Later, at the doctor’s office, I was surprised and dismayed to find out that my son’s urine test indicated deydration. What? How could that be? He carries a big water bottle to school with him every day! The pediatrician told us how important it is to drink more water and stay hydrated. Yes, I know, I thought. How ironic to celebrate the arrival of the new cooler and find out my son is dehydrated on the same afternoon.
This coincidence made me appreciate the foresight of the PTO leaders for investing in the water cooler and of the principal for allowing students to have water bottles on their desks that they can refill during the day. If my son is getting dehydrated at school, I think that a very large percentage of students may also be dehydrated without realizing it. Once the students “discover” the great tasting filtered water from their new cooler and get into a habit of bringing in and refilling their reusable bottles, I am hopeful that they will all be better hydrated and better able to learn.
How about kicking off a Back2Tap campaign for your school’s Earth Day celebration on April 22! This movement against the ridiculous wastefulness of bottled water, is gaining momentum in schools across the country. Once students are made aware of the problem, it is easy for them to take action by drinking tap water from a reusable bottle and making their own drinks using concentrated drink mixes with tap water. These very simple steps toward sustainability are easy for students to comprehend and feel good about.
Back2Tap offers free downloadable educational resources, including a fun 9 minute video about the wastefulness of bottled water and everything you need to know about tap water, suitable for ages K-8, but guaranteed to be enlightening to high school students and adults, too. Classroom activities include making a bottle tower out of discarded disposable plastic water bottles, conducting a drinking container survey, collecting and categorizing waste for a day, and more. These resources will raise students’ environmental awareness and their understanding of sustainability and are well suited for either an Earth Day assembly or for classroom activities.
The educational program can be followed up by our green fundraising campaign. Back2Tap partners with a representative from a PTO/PTA, Boosters, faculty, or student group to sell high quality reusable stainless steel bottles with custom logos to members of the school community. Do something good for the planet and for your budget with our Back2Tap campaign! To learn more, please visit http://www.back2tap.com/fundraising2.html.
The trustees of the London School Board are considering banning bottled water from vending machines in their school district. During their deliberations, they raised valid points about the importance of offering and implementing solutions before “banning” bottled water. First, they need to ensure that there are enough working water fountains or water coolers. In the wake of the bottled water epidemic, many fountains have not been properly maintained. The students need to be educated so they understand that switching to another drink in a single serving disposable plastic bottle is not a suitable alternative for the planet or for their health. Lastly, reusable bottles should be made available to the students to make it easy for them to bring tap water or other drinks from home and to refill their bottles with tap water at school.
This Back2Tap movement is a win-win for the planet and for people’s wallets. To read more about how one company is encouraging schools across the United States to get Back2Tap and to raise money in the process, visit http://www.back2tap.com/.
EarthSense 