by Karissa Ketter, News Writer

A project three years in the making, Ban the Bottle, a collaboration with Re-use for Good,  banned plastic water bottles across all SFU campuses. The official phase out of plastic bottles began on January 1, 2021. 

Ban the Bottle provides reusable water bottles in the vending machines “at no additional cost,” Russell Dunsford, co-president of Ban the Bottle, told The Peak. He added the reusable water bottles will be the same price as plastic bottles. 

Students will be able to refill their reusable bottles at the bottle-filling stations on campuses, according to Dunsford. 

Dunsford noted that due to COVID-19 safety measures, water fountains are currently closed but “once the restrictions loosen and everybody [comes] back onto campus, those will open up again too.”

Beyond plastic water bottles, Dunsford said the plastic ban also eliminates plastic straws and stir sticks.

Due to the large amount of plastic waste produced by SFU each year, Dunsford explained that Ban the Bottle’s initiatives are a better alternative to recycling, because “you never have to deal with that waste in the first place.” He added, “Plastic recycling is really difficult and it’s inefficient, at best.” Re-use for Good reported that over 1 million single-use plastic bottles and cups are used and discarded every year at SFU, and only 11% of Canadian plastics are recycled. 

Dunsford said Ban the Bottle had consultations with SFU’s Disability and Neurodiversity Alliance (DNA) regarding their new policies. DNA worked with them to ensure plastic water bottles will be  available for request through the Accessibility Centre for students who require them. Ban the Bottle continues to work with SFU to eliminate other sources of plastic on campus where possible, such as disposable gloves in some labs, other plastic drink bottles, and coffee cups. 

Moving forward, Ban the Bottle is building their research capacity to study plastic waste’s effect on the environment. Dunsford noted they are increasing capacity to implement public education for students and community members, and assisting other universities with a similar ban.

“We actually hadn’t anticipated that [SFU was] going to be so supportive: we started a petition [and] were collecting names from students to try and build student support for [the ban but] it turns out we didn’t even need the petition.”