About a year ago, I wrote about the small Australian town that banned bottled water sales. An Australian school has followed Bundanoon’s lead and also banned the sale of bottled water.

The canteen at Monte Sant’Angelo Mercy College in Sydney will no longer stock the stuff and has spent AUD $7,500 installing water bubblers (drinking fountains) for the students to use instead. An educational program is also in place to raise awareness of the environmental impact of water in disposable plastic bottles.

What a great idea and a wonderful example this school has set for others to follow – but I guess the bottled water companies won’t be so enthusiastic.

Aside from the environmental benefits, the initiative saves the kids (and parents) money.

The Monte Sant’ Angelo Mercy College is reaching out to kids at the right time in their lives – when habits are formed and the peer group plays such an important role in defining what’s cool and what’s not.

If you’d like to congratulate the school on their efforts, their contact details are here.

I hope to see schools around the world follow suit. I know there’s a lot of GLT readers with children – perhaps it’s something that can be raised at your next P&T meeting (or whatever they call them in your neck of the woods)?

By the way, I decided to check up on the town of Bundanoon to see how they were going with their bottled water ban. I’m pleased to say they are still standing strong and have also started up a web site to show other towns how they can do the same.

According to the Bundy On Tap site, Australia’s annual consumption of bottled water is about 600 million litres. In environmental terms the production and distribution of this volume of bottled water just in Australia generates more than 60,000 tonnes of greenhouse gas emissions.

Related:

Guide to choosing a reusable water bottle