PET Bottles at the Middle School

Annie Blasberg

THE BOTTLE BOYCOTT

What is our school doing?Positi

ves

• We recycle or reuse about half of the bottles we purchase at school.

Negatives• We are buying

plastic bottles

that use up a lot

of resources when

being made.

• Some of the

bottles aren’t

recycled.

We must REDUCE our bottle waste!• After sending out a survey and

asking Alesandra some questions, I have concluded that in one week our school uses around 300 plastic bottles from the vending machine and cafeteria!

• Because kids at this age are lazy, they put their bottles in which ever bin is closet. So, some make it to the recycling while most end up in the trash.

Should I Recycle?Recycling is a good first step. But, where do these bottles go? The video, the Story About Stuff, says that a large amounts of recycled bottles (from the US) are sent to developing countries. So not only does making the bottle produce a lot of energy, recycling the bottle does too. However many of these bottles never actually get recycled, the bottle gets sent off where it will

just sit for years and years and years! Although the recycling system in Switzerland may not work this way, the process of just making the bottle uses a lot more resources than it’s worth. The best solution is to just not buy bottled drinks.

The Story Of Stuff

Water Bottles

REUSE

The amount of bottles we are using is not sustainable…

First, our school should go on a Bottle Boycott and stop bringing bottled or buying bottled drinks at school.

I propose that each student be given a canteen or water bottle at the beginning of each year. The price of these bottles could be added on to the yearly tuition. Just like each student’s agenda, their water bottle would be something required to bring to school and have in class.

Scattered around the school would be filling stations; these could simply be water fountains. Water fountains would allow forgetful students to hydrate and ones with their water bottles to fill them from a clean source. For students who want a flavored drink, Alessandra could sell drink powders. Drink powders can come in little packets and all one has to do is dump the powder in a bottle of water and shake it up. I think this a very tenable alternative.

If ZIS agrees to the bottle boycott we would join the 18 colleges in the USA who have already implemented similar plans. By doing this our school would set an example for other communities and help globalize the Bottle Boycott.

…In order to make our school more sustainable, we must begin to…

JOIN THE BOTTLE BOYCOTT