The results are in...
Well, kind of. The logistics of this project are still in the process. We will hopefully have new drinking fountains and hydration stations installed in the school! For now, we have conducted surveys with a random sample of classrooms throughout the school in order to find out about how much use these products are going to get.
About 22% of students who responded to the survey stated that they regularly carry and dispose of a plastic water bottle at school. The survey also questioned participants on why they do not bring a reusable water bottle, and some of the results were as followed.
Along with the completion of the installation of the water bottle fillers, we also need to focus on tackling these concerns. First and foremost, it needs to be reiterated to students that most if not all of reusable water bottles sold in stores are completely BPA free, and they are perfectly harmless. Once the water bottle fillers are installed it is important that the students know that the water is filtered and refrigerated and easy to put in your water bottle, tackling two of the other stated issues! As far as the time constraints, filling up a water bottle at a hydration station is considerably faster than at a drinking fountain (and much more convenient ) so students should not have an issue with filling up their water bottle between classes or at lunch (the fillers will be installed by upstairs and downstairs as well as by the cafeteria.) If students find that they still are not having enough time, it may be necessary to talk to teachers and allow them to permit students to leave the classroom for a brief moment during instructional time to fill up their water bottle.
Approximately 22% of the 210 students surveyed stated that they use a disposable water bottle. Applying this sample proportion to the entire population, roughly 440 students here at Grandville High School regularly use a disposable water bottle here at school. If each of these students use five disposable water bottles per day (one for each school day of the week) and do not recycle them at the end of the day, 2,200 plastic water bottles will be thrown away per week, which ends up totaling to 88,000 water bottles in total for the year. These projected numbers reflect the dire need to take action against the waste that is present in Grandville High School. Each of those 88,000 water bottles take 450 years to break down in a landfill, and release toxic chemicals into the area around them.
The average Grandville High School student brings a disposable water bottle three days a week. Rather than doing that, they could bring a reusable water bottle and fill it up in the hydration stations, or they could drink from the drinking fountains. The average hydration station can save approximately 8,000 water bottles from landfills PER MONTH. The hydration stations track how many times it has been used to fill a water bottle up in order to allow the owner to know how many water bottles are being saved from landfills. Based on their success in other schools and communities, a water bottle filler in Grandville High School has the potential to save 80,000 water bottles from landfills each year (based on the projected calculations and averages from other hydration stations - results may vary.)
The following data table illustrates the breakdown of disposable water bottle usage by grade:
Senior Junior Soph. Freshmen
Yes 9 24 3 9
No 21 33 2 18
Reusable 14 24 2 11
None 7 14 8
The following chart shows the breakdown of disposable water bottle usage, by grade:
About 22% of students who responded to the survey stated that they regularly carry and dispose of a plastic water bottle at school. The survey also questioned participants on why they do not bring a reusable water bottle, and some of the results were as followed.
- Students were concerned about the BPA that they were told is present in hard plastic water bottles
- The students did not like the inconvienence of filling up a water bottle in the drinking fountains
- No time to fill up a water bottle
- The water that comes out of the drinking fountain tastes bad
Along with the completion of the installation of the water bottle fillers, we also need to focus on tackling these concerns. First and foremost, it needs to be reiterated to students that most if not all of reusable water bottles sold in stores are completely BPA free, and they are perfectly harmless. Once the water bottle fillers are installed it is important that the students know that the water is filtered and refrigerated and easy to put in your water bottle, tackling two of the other stated issues! As far as the time constraints, filling up a water bottle at a hydration station is considerably faster than at a drinking fountain (and much more convenient ) so students should not have an issue with filling up their water bottle between classes or at lunch (the fillers will be installed by upstairs and downstairs as well as by the cafeteria.) If students find that they still are not having enough time, it may be necessary to talk to teachers and allow them to permit students to leave the classroom for a brief moment during instructional time to fill up their water bottle.
Approximately 22% of the 210 students surveyed stated that they use a disposable water bottle. Applying this sample proportion to the entire population, roughly 440 students here at Grandville High School regularly use a disposable water bottle here at school. If each of these students use five disposable water bottles per day (one for each school day of the week) and do not recycle them at the end of the day, 2,200 plastic water bottles will be thrown away per week, which ends up totaling to 88,000 water bottles in total for the year. These projected numbers reflect the dire need to take action against the waste that is present in Grandville High School. Each of those 88,000 water bottles take 450 years to break down in a landfill, and release toxic chemicals into the area around them.
The average Grandville High School student brings a disposable water bottle three days a week. Rather than doing that, they could bring a reusable water bottle and fill it up in the hydration stations, or they could drink from the drinking fountains. The average hydration station can save approximately 8,000 water bottles from landfills PER MONTH. The hydration stations track how many times it has been used to fill a water bottle up in order to allow the owner to know how many water bottles are being saved from landfills. Based on their success in other schools and communities, a water bottle filler in Grandville High School has the potential to save 80,000 water bottles from landfills each year (based on the projected calculations and averages from other hydration stations - results may vary.)
The following data table illustrates the breakdown of disposable water bottle usage by grade:
Senior Junior Soph. Freshmen
Yes 9 24 3 9
No 21 33 2 18
Reusable 14 24 2 11
None 7 14 8
The following chart shows the breakdown of disposable water bottle usage, by grade: