Fleming College

Fleming College will be the first college in Canada to ban the sale of bottled water when the policy officially comes into effect at the Frost and Sutherland campuses on Earth Day, April 22, 2011.

Initiated a year ago at the annual student-run EcoHealth Conference, the college has worked with students and its food service provider to implement the ban, which prohibits the sale of bottled water in the cafeteria and in vending machines on campus.

“Fleming has committed to leading in sustainability in our programs and practices. Our students are designing and building sustainable structures, they are contributing to a sustainable agricultural industry that is sensitive to the earth’s ecosystems and respects nature, and they are applying valuable research methods to our water systems and forests,” said Frost Campus Principal Linda Skilton. “However, we cannot teach students about sustainability without practising sustainability as an institution, and the Frost Campus has taken a lead role in this work.”

Since April 2010, the college has undertaken an audit of college water fountains and filling stations to ensure there are clean and functional ways for people to access drinking water on campus.

“Banning the sale of bottled water on campus is intimately linked with the college’s commitment to leading in sustainability,” said Sara Kelly, Chair of the Frost Sustainable Campus Initiative. “It is a statement that we are confident in the quality of our public water system, that we feel strongly that water is a right not a commodity, and that it is important to reduce the amount of disposable material we bring to, then cart off, our campus.”

Located in the heart of Central Ontario, Fleming College has campus locations in Peterborough, Lindsay, Cobourg and Haliburton. Named for famous Canadian inventor and engineer Sir Sandford Fleming, the college features more than 90 full-time programs in Business and Technology, Continuing Education and Skilled Trades, Environmental and Natural Resource Sciences, Visual Arts, Education, Health and Wellness, and Law, Justice and Community Services. Fleming College has 6,000 full-time and 10,000 part-time students, and more than 58,000 alumni.

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Some Bottled Water Facts from the Polaris Institute:

ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS

Production

Ø  The two primary raw materials in polyethylene terphtalate (PET) plastic used in most single serve bottles are terephthalic acid (PTA) and monoethylene glycol (MEG), toxic chemicals derived from crude oil.

Ø  It takes approximately 3.4 megajoules to manufacture the packaging, bottle and cap of a one-litre plastic bottle. The 31.2 billion litres of bottled water consumed annually in the United States uses more than 17 million barrels of oil to produce.

Ø  Some communities have raised concerns about the environmental impacts (and impacts to other water users) of removing hundreds of thousands of litres of water a day from local watersheds. The issue of water-taking is complex. Ground and surface water taking laws and regulations differ between provinces.

Ø  Twice as much water is used in production than what is sold in the bottle.
Transportation

Ø  The bottled water industry relies on container ships, trucks and cars to transport raw materials to the plants and finished products to where they are sold, often thousands of kilometres away from the source. Oil based transportation contributes to global warming in the production of greenhouse gases.

Ø  Tap water, on the other hand, is transported from source to user through local infrastructure; a  significantly more energy efficient delivery system.
Plastic waste

Ø  The energy costs of a plastic bottle over its lifecycle are the equivalent, on average, to filling up a quarter of each bottle with oil.

Ø  Bottled water and plastic resource companies have spent millions of dollars to weaken and/or defeat bottle bills for “Deposit Return Programs” which require the industry to assume some of the costs of recycling and help reduce the use of virgin plastic in new bottles.

Ø  According to one 2002 report, in Canada 235,086 tons of plastic bottles were generated while only approximately 84,744 tons were recovered and recycled.

Ø  Canadian provinces with deposit return programs have much higher recycling rates. The average recovery rate (2002) for beverage bottles in non-deposit programs was 33%, compared with an average of 75% where these programs are in use.

ECONOMIC IMPACTS

Ø  The bottled water industry pays little or no fees for water from groundwater, streams, aquifers and municipal sources. Unlike other industries such as forestry, mining, oil and gas, in most jurisdictions bottled water companies are not obligated to pay a fee (such as a royalty fee) or tax on the extraction of the resource.

Ø  In Canada 25% of bottled water is reprocessed tap water. Much of this reprocessed water is sold by PepsiCo (Aquafina) and Coca Cola (Dasani).

Ø  In the case of reprocessed tap water, people are being sold something they have already paid for through their municipal taxes – quality tap water.

For more information:
Laura Copeland, Communications Officer, 705-749-5530 x 1370 or copeland@flemingc.on.ca