Rethink the Drink

Reducing the use of plastic water bottles in local schools

"Rethink the Drink" is a CEC program to reduce plastic water bottle usage at local schools. The project is funded primarily by the Orfalea Foundations and in partnership with their School Food Initiative.

Water bottle production is very energy intensive.

More than 17 million barrels of oil are used each year to transport bottled water to our stores — enough to fuel 1.5 million vehicles for a year. Despite being recyclable, most bottled water is consumed 'on the go' and fewer than 30% of the bottles are recycled. The rest end up in landfills (40 million each day) or as trash in storm drains, watersheds and the ocean. Bottled water production is also water intensive - it takes 3 liters of water to fill up a 1-liter bottle.

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OUR PROGRESS

CEC is installing water refill stations at local schools so students have free, cold, filtered water as an alternative to bottled water. Through this project we are currently working with:

This year, we plan to install an additional nine refill stations in Santa Barbara, Goleta and Lompoc as well as three after-school locations.

That’s thousands of water bottles.

With a counter on the stations that displays the amount of bottles saved by refilling, CEC has eliminated more than 164,387 water bottles as of May 2012.

HOW YOU CAN HELP

• Follow Rethink the Drink on our Facebook page for photos and stories of students enjoying cold, clean water in their canteens. Sign up for email alerts from CEC.
• Bring your own refillable canteen whenever possible instead of using disposable plastic water bottles.
• Support CEC to keep Rethink the Drink expanding to other schools, as well as parks and recreation areas.
• Want Rethink the Drink at your school? This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it . Tell your friends, neighbors and kids about Rethink the Drink.