Bye-Bye Plastic by Leah

Bye-Bye Plastic by Leah - May 2019 Scholarship Essay

A growing number of United States airports are investing in hydration stations. Once a person gets through security, they are able to fill up their empty water bottles at a hydration station. Instead of buying non-reusable plastic water bottles, travelers can keep refilling their previously used bottle. Hydration stations keep track of the amount of water is dispensed. This lets travelers save money, by not buying a new water bottle every time your bottle is empty and the Earth at the same time. According to container-recycling.org, about 60 million plastic water bottles get thrown into landfills everyday, and over the course of a year this amounts to 22 billion bottles. Airports that have implemented the hydration station has saved countless more bottles from going into the landfills. (transition) At my high school there is a school store, you can buy town apparel, snacks and drinks. The most sold product at the store is plastic, non-reusable water bottles. Many kids go and buy a new water bottle everyday. Often times students don’t finish the bottle that they used from the previous day. A lot of students waste plastic on a product that if just changed slightly that could help save the Earth.
If I had a $10,000 grant I would use it to implement hydration stations for reusable water bottle at my school. To take advantage of existing plumbing in the school, there would be a hydration station outside of every bathroom in the school (5), and two in the cafeteria. There would also be two more, one in the gym, and one in the Library. The school could get up to twenty new Hydration stations, depending on how many features they have. The hydration station that I would have put in the schools are each $500 making it cost $3,500 for the high school. The district will put aside $3,000 for maintenance and installation. Students will bring their own water bottles from home every morning, and use them throughout the day. If a student forgets their water bottle they can try to have someone drop it off, or borrow a friend’s. The school can put aside $500 for students who cannot afford their own.
By putting in hydration stations the school store could stop selling non-reusable plastic water bottles. Some students who I spoke to say they bought a new water bottle every day that they went to school for four years. Considering that a plastic water bottle ranges from one dollar to a $1.50, thats around $720 for a single student. If every student spent that much, it would add up to ¾ of a million dollars dollars would be spent on non-reusable water bottles over the four years they are in high school. I would also have four more stations put into the middle school. Middle schoolers are at an ideal time to introduce the importance of saving the environment, by reducing dependence on reusable plastics.
While the school loses the revenue made from selling water bottles, the school district would save money, as they would not need to pay a company to haul the plastic away. If the school still is down a significant amount of money, they could make lunch prices go up by $0.25. Students would not be spending as much as they did on a water bottle everyday, so the slight increase would not seem too drastic. Being awarded the $10,000 grant will help solve the non-reusable plastic problem that my school faces.