We have a petition up calling on President Spanier and the Board of Trustees to stop selling Aquafina at Penn State. It reads:
Dear President Spanier and the Board of Trustees,So take a minute if you are a Penn Stater and sign this petition. Let them know that we want accountability and responsibility.
We the undersigned believe that Penn State should cease buying and selling single-use plastic water bottles immediately. The detrimental costs associated with single-use bottles are numerous.
Single-use plastic water bottles contribute to solid waste pollution when they aren’t recycled. In all parts of their lifecycle they contribute to climate change. They needlessly exploit a public resource for a price-gouging venture that charges about 700 times the price of tap water at Penn State. Finally, the EPA’s standards on municipal drinking water are more stringent than the FDA’s regulating bottled water.
With Penn State’s growing commitment to sustainability, it doesn’t make sense to carry on business as usual. Around campus, our Office of Physical Plant has installed bottle-filling stations that grow more popular every week. More students, staff, and faculty are moving away from single-use plastic bottles and using reusable steel, aluminum, and plastic canteens and bottles.
We know that more people across our university want good water. We have it.
We know that smart people are responsibly drinking water from our Spring Creek watershed.
We call on you not to renew the Aquafina contract with Pepsi and move us bottle free!!!
We are Penn State.
