Campuses Banning Bottled Water

[Hanna]

Sure, but lots of them would cost a fortune to replace (like millions of uninsulated windows) or don't have any replacement that offers anything like the same benefits (like airplanes or hydraulic fracking). In this case, every place that is limiting the sale of water bottles makes free drinking water available, so you are getting an indistinguishable product at a lower price without going out of your way. This is really low-hanging fruit in that sense -- the cost to consumers in convenience and choice is so minimal that a moderate environmental benefit strongly outweighs it.

[jaylynn]

^^^ yes ^^^

[jym626]

Ironic that many students want to earn the Coca Cola Scholarship to pay their way through school, yet want to restrict the company's product on their campus.

[bclintonk]

Originally Posted by jum626

Ironic that many students want to earn the Coca Cola Scholarship to pay their way through school, yet want to restrict the company's product on their campus.

Oh, I don't know. There are lots of companies that sponsor scholarships and make their money making or selling things that can't be sold on many campuses---alcohol, tobacco, firearms, and lottery tickets, to name four, yet nothing stops you from going across the street to get them if they're that important to you. Is that a restriction of your freedom, or of the rights of those companies, that you can't buy their products from the campus store, or from campus vending machines? Is it a restriction of my freedom, or of the rights of the Pepsi-Cola company, if my university grants an exclusive franchise to Coca-Cola to sell its soft drinks in all campus vending machines, dining halls, and cafes, to the exclusion of Pepsi and other competitors? I really don't think so. It may or may not be sound policy on the university's part, but it's not a "freedom" issue; if I prefer a Pepsi, I can just go across the street, or bring one from home. Truth be told, I much prefer a particular brand of flavored sparking water from a local bottler to any Coke or Pepsi product and I wish it were available in the campus vending machines, but I'm not such an a** as to think my "freedom" is being infringed because I need to go off-campus to get it. Nor do I think my "freedom" is being infringed when I need to go across the street to get a Jimmy John's sub which I much prefer to Subway, yet Subway seems to have locked up all the strategic spots in on-campus food courts in what is almost certainly an exclusive deal. Too bad. If you don't like what's sold on-campus, go elsewhere. If that's too inconvenient, go to another school. Colleges and universities, public or private, are under no obligation to provide all consumer products to their students, faculty, and staff; nor are they under any obligation to provide all competing brands of the products they do make available.

Besides, I really don't think the curtailment of on-campus bottled water sales is aimed specifically at Coca-Cola, even though they, along with Pepsi and Nestle, have been among the first and most successful to cash in on the inanity of consumer purchases of water, of all things, in a high-priced bottle when it's routinely made available free around the corner.

And have you ever thought it more than passing strange that in campus vending machines a bottle of plain water often sells for exactly the same price as a bottle of that same water to which an exotic mix of artificial and natural flavorings, colorings, sugar, and carbonation have been added? Are all the added ingredients and extra processing costless? Or are we being ripped off by paying that much for water when we can get water of comparable quality for free at the water cooler right around the corner?

[jym626]

Seriously? Could you kindly provide links to scholarships comparable to the Coca Cola Scholarship that are provided by ATF companies? That would be most interesting to see.

It is not a matter of whether the items can be purchased elsewhere. Its the irony of actively working to prevent the sale of the items on campus while benefitting from the company's bottom line and accepting their scholarship money. I would hope that someone so concerned about the impact of plastic containers or sugar water would have the scruples to be consistent and not accept any funding from such companies.

Ands as an aside, I repeat that its relaly important for students and othes to be better at recycling.

[HarvestMoon1]

I don't know, I am thinking that Coca-Cola et al might indeed be happy with the thought of banning bottled water. That will serve to drive the consumption of soda right back up to where it used to be. Soda had always been their core business until the "shift" took place in the 80's. I always thought they only got into bottled water business precisely because they saw the increased demand. They would love to get those soda sales numbers back up.

[SteveMA]

HarvestMoon1--Bottled water is a HUGE money maker for the various soda companies. I don't think they will be at all happy with the bans.

[jym626]

Agree with SteveMA. And they sell lots of other beverages (coffees, juices, sports drinks, Glaceau vitamin water, etc) besides soda and plain water.

[Dad_of_3]

^^ It all depends on whether a typical customer who can't get bottled water turns to water fountains or bottled something-else. If a significant number go to the former, the schools have achieved their goals.

But the Cokes and their likes first pushed "bad" sugar water, then "neutral" plain water, and now will market something "that's better than water". If the bulk of the erstwhile bottled water consumers go with the marketing, nothing would have changed, but everyone can be happy.

[LoremIpsum]

So with straight bottled water banned, companies will simply market vitamin water, flavored water, caffeinated water or something similar in its place?

[GCmom]

So, there is no point trying to make a positive change in a community that agrees with this change, because we can foresee that it won't work? This is not the lesson I want my children to get.

[LoremIpsum]

So, there is no point trying to make a positive change in a community that agrees with this change, because we can foresee that it won't work? This is not the lesson I want my children to get.

No? Learning the Law of Unintended Consequences is invaluable for those who seek to make changes to complex systems. I personally think that banning the sale of bottled water is foolish: corporations have too strong a financial incentive to provide and market close approximations. Better to allow the bottled water and, through education and raised awareness, make it look socially foolish to be seen buying bottled water when a free equivalent alternative exists. Certainly this technique has done wonders for reducing the use of cigarettes and other tobacco products.

[Dad_of_3]

make it look socially foolish to be seen buying bottled water when a free equivalent alternative exists

Why not just mark up the price, so people who have to have BW pay for the privilege and the college gets extra funds for water fountains or recycling or any other cause they want to pursue?

[RacinReaver]

Certainly this technique has done wonders for reducing the use of cigarettes and other tobacco products.

Not sure if that's the best comparison, since I don't remember the last school I visited that sold cigarettes.

[LoremIpsum]

Not sure if that's the best comparison, since I don't remember the last school I visited that sold cigarettes.

You see, the strategy is working! No one wants to be seen buying cigarettes on campus and to get lectured to repeatedly about it. Even avid smokers tend to hide their addiction.

Campus stores would stop selling bottled water voluntarily due to minimal sales, which is far better than a ban instituted by some subgroup of activists who wish to make decisions on what other people may do. The political far right and the political far left are united in at least one regard: their eagerness to legislate everyone else's business.