To reward students for supporting sustainability, the Environmental Club held its first Donut Forget Your Water Bottle day on the quad Thursday.  

Donut Forget Your Water Bottle day is the Environmental Club’s new initiative to encourage individuals to stop using single-use plastic water bottles, which are harmful to the planet.  In exchange for presenting a reusable bottle to the club on a specific day, students receive free donuts.  Donut Forget Your Water Bottle days are held randomly throughout the year, and are not announced beforehand in order to encourage students to bring reusable substitutes consistently.

“[Donut Forget Your Water Bottle day] is a great idea because a lot of people have [reusable bottles] at home but don’t think to bring them,” Maddie Boudov ’21 said. “This could motivate people to bring them more often so we have less waste on campus.”

Because plastic bottles take an average of 400 years to decompose, reusable substitutes should be utilized whenever possible, Environmental Club member Guy Hartstein ’20 said. 

Hartstein also said that he hopes the event will help students think in a more environmentally-friendly way.

“So far I think this activity has attracted a lot of interest, which I think is really the most important thing when you’re trying to enact environmental change,” Environmental Club member Guy Hartstein ’20 said.

The Environmental Club has also held events in the past to raise awareness regarding other forms of single-use plastic.

“Last year they had an initiative to have people use fewer straws with free smoothies,” Julia MacCary ’19 said. “I think people like the donuts too. I don’t know if people are going to keep bringing reusable water bottles but I hope they continue.”