Greening Austin Daily

Environmental Groups Protest UT Selling UT-Branded Bottled Water

26th July, 2010 - Posted by katherine - No Comments

KUT had this article about a small group of protesters who last Friday had a press conference about UT’s decision to start selling UT-branded water.  The article states:

The plastic water bottles, which were unveiled last week, are projected to bring in a million dollars each year, with 40 percent of the revenue going toward student scholarships.

Protesters told reporters that instead of selling plastic water bottles, the university should sell aluminum bottles and give 40 percent of that revenue to student scholarships.

“We don’t want to add thousands of pounds of plastic into our waste stream,” Stacy Guidry, Texas Campaign for the Environment Program Assistant, said. “We can do a lot better than that.”

In response, the company formed to sell the plastic bottle, H2Orange, issued an open letter. According to Austin Business Journal:

The document said the water bottles are made from 100 recyclable PET (polyethylene terephthalate) material. H2Orange is buying carbon credits to offset the impact of manufacturing the bottled.

Also in the letter, the company said in its second year it plans to sell refillable, stainless steal bottles. The company is looking into creating a collapsible, BPA-free, dish washer-safe versions, as well as a biodegradable plastic bottle.

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