As recommended by both the Prefect Council and the Middle School Student Council, the administration should lift the moratorium on plastic water bottles in the cafeteria. The original intent of the ban was to reduce the school’s use of plastic products.
However, it has hardly had the desired effect. Though the spirit of this policy is admirable, the initiative has ultimately proved both counterproductive and impractical.
However, it has hardly had the desired effect. Though the spirit of this policy is admirable, the initiative has ultimately proved both counterproductive and impractical.
This policy was flawed from the start. Instead of imposing a categorical ban on all beverages packaged in disposable plastic bottles, the administration chose to just eliminate water bottles.
As a result, students still have the to purchase drinks in plastic bottles at school.
Moreover, those drinks, purchased in lieu of water, are typically less healthy.
Granted, students can still find ways to drink water at school under this new policy.
One option for students is to buy a plastic or paper cup in the cafeteria and fill it at the new cafeteria water dispensers.
While that option has been the most popular under this policy, it is hardly environmentally friendly. Paper and plastic cups are arguably just as bad as the banned water bottles.
In addition, students throw away cups more often than they did with water bottles.
Students can go through multiple cups per day, while many students used to carry the same disposable water bottle from class to class all day.
The second option, which the policy encourages, is to bring a reusable bottle. This option, though better, also presents its share of problems and is rarely utilized.
What if one was to forget their reusable water bottle? That student would then be forced to use a disposable cup or buy another type of drink, which would most likely be packaged in a plastic bottle.
The school should not abandon its green initiative, but there are more sensible ways to make the cafeteria greener.
As recommended by both the Prefect Council and the Middle School Student Council, the administration should lift the moratorium on plastic water bottles in the cafeteria. The original intent of the ban was to reduce the school’s use of plastic products.
One way the administration could make a meaningful difference in reducing our environmental footprint is to ban Styrofoam from the cafeteria. Styrofoam, unlike plastic and paper, is not recyclable.
Banning disposable plastic water bottles was a valuable trial and a commendable effort.
However now, knowing that the ban was not as effective as had been originally hoped, the school should repeal the ban and implement other policies to reduce our environmental footprint.
