Ever been interested in living a more sustainable life, but not sure how?

The change can be simple! How about starting by not using paper coffee cups and plastic water bottles in your every day life?

The Natural Disasters, a group enrolled in Life Sci 3D03 (Environmental and Global Sustainability) has spent the past month examining precisely this initiative and we need your support! Our final project partially depends on data analysis which includes social media outreach (Facebook, Twitter) and survey results.

For more information, please visit our Facebook Page and Like Us! (This is the only way we have to track our progress on Facebook) https://www.facebook.com/NoPaperNoPlastic

Or follow us on Twitter: https://twitter.com/PaperNorPlastic


We also have surveys you can fill out and if you see us in the Student Center or around campus in the next few days asking you about coffee or water bottle use, we'd love 2 minutes of your time to help gather more research for an environmentally friendly campus!

So what do we use instead?

Sometimes people just can't carry their personal bottles with them.

Why not considering reducing use completely in those situations? Part of living a sustainable life is considering how much we overconsume as a society and working to only consume what we need, not just everything we want.

Originally Posted by Afzal

So what do we use instead?

Sometimes people just can't carry their personal bottles with them.

I'm intrigued - why wouldn't someone be able to carry a water bottle with them?

How hard is it to put a small water bottle in your bag? The water at Mac is very good. This is coming from someone who barely drank water.

I think people who purchase water in bottles are incredibly stupid; especially with all the fountains everywhere.. every single beverage has water in it... as long as you don't get something like pop, you're getting more bang for your buck. (exceptions: diabetics and other genetically naturally thirsty people)

Originally Posted by RyanC

I think people who purchase water in bottles are incredibly stupid; especially with all the fountains everywhere.. every single beverage has water in it... as long as you don't get something like pop, you're getting more bang for your buck. (exceptions: diabetics and other genetically naturally thirsty people)

That's only if you buy the individual bottles...if you buy the big packs of water bottles when they're on sale, it's actually really cheap.

Personally, I prefer using those plastic bottles, for the following reasons:
-I can't stand the taste of water from metal bottles.
-Many reusable plastic bottles have BPA, although there are some that don't.
-I tend to refill my store-bought plastic bottles anyways, and I usually go through one bottle every two weeks.
-It's okay if I lose my water bottle somewhere (which I tend to do a lot, since I carry water with me pretty much everywhere I go).
-Even though I clean the reusable water bottles over and over, they tend to get gross and smelly anyways.
-I recycle all of my plastic bottles.

I won't use travel mugs for coffee for similar reasons - they get gross really fast, they spill a lot and if I'm out I usually don't have anywhere I can rinse out the travel mug when I'm done (even if there is a bathroom available, it's completely disgusting in there). I tend to just make my coffee at home and drink it so that's kind of beside the point anyways, but if I'm running late I'll buy a coffee rather than make it and put it in a travel mug.

I've tried both reusable water bottles and travel coffee mugs numerous times, and each time it ends up failing for the reasons listed above.

Originally Posted by starfish

That's only if you buy the individual bottles...if you buy the big packs of water bottles when they're on sale, it's actually really cheap.

Personally, I prefer using those plastic bottles, for the following reasons:
-I can't stand the taste of water from metal bottles.
-Many reusable plastic bottles have BPA, although there are some that don't.
-I tend to refill my store-bought plastic bottles anyways, and I usually go through one bottle every two weeks.
-It's okay if I lose my water bottle somewhere (which I tend to do a lot, since I carry water with me pretty much everywhere I go).
-Even though I clean the reusable water bottles over and over, they tend to get gross and smelly anyways.
-I recycle all of my plastic bottles.

I won't use travel mugs for coffee for similar reasons - they get gross really fast, they spill a lot and if I'm out I usually don't have anywhere I can rinse out the travel mug when I'm done (even if there is a bathroom available, it's completely disgusting in there). I tend to just make my coffee at home and drink it so that's kind of beside the point anyways, but if I'm running late I'll buy a coffee rather than make it and put it in a travel mug.

I've tried both reusable water bottles and travel coffee mugs numerous times, and each time it ends up failing for the reasons listed above.

Yeah, most water bottles taste yucky to me too, but it's about finding one that doesn't. Have you been using freebies or did you try buying a really nice one. Potential for losing it sucks, that's a legit reason to be adverse to the whole thing.

You're the odd one out, most don't recycle it, just leave it somewhere or throw it in the trash. The idea behind the reduction is not because of price though.. anyyywayyyssss... are you a camel or something? Why the need for so much water? Water is in everything you eat

Originally Posted by ashleighp

I'm intrigued - why wouldn't someone be able to carry a water bottle with them?

Summer and you don't have a bag. Now you have to engage one hand for constantly carrying the bottle.

How hard is it to put a small water bottle in your bag? The water at Mac is very good. This is coming from someone who barely drank water.

Originally Posted by LTHL

How hard is it to put a small water bottle in your bag? The water at Mac is very good. This is coming from someone who barely drank water.

Sometimes you don't carry a bag, sometimes you leave it in a locker or something.

Water at Mac is not very good according to what I've read, some buildings have more than normal amounts of Lead and I'm not sure about this but some years ago, one of the fountains had E. coli water. That said, I still know the city spends quite a bit of money on water purification.

Originally Posted by goodnews.inc

Why not considering reducing use completely in those situations? Part of living a sustainable life is considering how much we overconsume as a society and working to only consume what we need, not just everything we want.

Of course, but it's "No paper, No plastic", not "Less paper, Less plastic"

Originally Posted by RyanC

Yeah, most water bottles taste yucky to me too, but it's about finding one that doesn't. Have you been using freebies or did you try buying a really nice one. Potential for losing it sucks, that's a legit reason to be adverse to the whole thing.

You're the odd one out, most don't recycle it, just leave it somewhere or throw it in the trash. The idea behind the reduction is not because of price though.. anyyywayyyssss... are you a camel or something? Why the need for so much water? Water is in everything you eat

Yeah I've tried nice ones as well as free ones...ends up being a waste of money because they either tasted terrible or got lost or ended up getting pretty gross

I recycle them except for when I lose them...then I suppose that qualifies as "just leaving it somewhere" although it isn't intentional I lose them pretty often though - usually after midterms/exams.

I have no idea why I need so much water!! I drink about 4-5L per day (RDA is ~2L) and I am always thirsty. I saw a doctor about it but they couldn't find anything wrong with me

Until there is a reusable water bottle that solves the problems I listed, I won't be switching over, but I do get tired of people constantly telling me that I should.

@Starfish,

BIOS makes great water bottles that have never leaked on me so far. The trick is to soak your reusable water bottles full of dish soap and hot water overnight and then rinse to get rid of that weird funk you were referencing. A rinse with hot water and lemon or a soak with those two should also help.

Originally Posted by goodnews.inc

@Starfish,

BIOS makes great water bottles that have never leaked on me so far. The trick is to soak your reusable water bottles full of dish soap and hot water overnight and then rinse to get rid of that weird funk you were referencing. A rinse with hot water and lemon or a soak with those two should also help.

I tried that with a different water bottle and then it just tasted all soapy, I wasn't able to get all of the soap out

And sadly that doesn't solve the problem of me losing them everywhere :(

Titles (and a whole bunch of other places) sells BPA-free collapsible bottles with a clip on them. When they are empty they weigh almost nothing and can fit in a pocket or clipped onto a belt loop/bag. They clean very well, I also hate the funky smell/taste from metal and plastic bottles and haven't had that problem at all with these.

You may also want to try glass bottles. Some take a bit more care than others, and some are less likely to break than others