Refilling instead of landfilling

There are two pieces of good news for us today at Penn State. It's amazing, the work that the original crew of Alex, Jared, Steve, and I started almost 3 years ago has spread farther and deeper.

First, Penn State's green.psu.edu from the Office of Sustainability fills us in on the bottle refilling stations across PSU. Those early and strong efforts (victory fill at right) to work with the Office of Physical Plant paid off. Today, there are 20 bottle stations at University Park and a few more across the Commonwealth campuses. 18 more will arrive at University Park in the next two years.

Second, tonight at 7 pm, the Bucknell Green Film Series will be showing Tapped, Stephanie Soechtig's debut feature film about the surprising and far-reaching impacts of the bottled water industry. The film probes topics like the petroleum used to make plastics and transport bottled products long distances, excessive groundwater withdrawals by bottling plants, and the general lack of regulatory oversight over the bottled water industry. Who profits and who loses out when society prioritizes convenience over sustainability?



Following the film, the a post-screening discussion and Q & A session about bottled water and its impacts here in Pennsylvania. The discussion will be moderated by Cathy Curran Myers, Director of the BUEC and former Deputy Secretary for Water Management at the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. I (Peter Buckland) will also be a panelist discussing our work advocating on reducing bottled water here at Penn State.