Created by university students, Day Without a Bottle is a day of action and awareness around one of the main contributors to plastic pollution: bottled water (and other beverages bottled in disposable plastic). The event proposes to halt the purchase of disposable plastic bottles for one day on campus. The strategy to create a Day Without a Bottle has the following components: raise awareness about...

What would happen if there were no disposable plastic bottles on the campus of UC Santa Barbara? Find out on Monday, April 1st! A Day Without a Bottle is about showing students that they can reduce plastic consumption and waste with a simple solution: A reusable bottle. With brand new hydration stations installed all over the UC Santa Barbara campus, students have even more options to stay hydrated...

We are pleased to announce Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) support for Plastic Free Campuses! The agency has awarded funding to Plastic Pollution Coalition (PPC) and four other mission-driven organizations, all members of PPC—the Product Stewardship Institute (PSI), As You Sow, the Clean Water Fund, and the California Product Stewardship Council (CPSC)—to collaborate on a plan to expand the...

Earth Day was celebrated on Friday, April 20, at Penn State University—and the Plastic Pollution Coalition was there! While the weekend featured the annual “Blue and White” football game at Beaver Stadium, where tens of thousands of plastic bottles and food containers were used and tossed, the good news is that Penn State will recycle all the bottles it collects from the stadium and throughout...

The Plastic Pollution World Expedition was launched on April 23rd, lead by PPC’s Road Ambassadors, David and Theresa Wernery, of Dubai-based Plastic Not So Fantastic. The expedition will highlight the  destructive effects of single use plastics around the globe in order to raise awareness, understanding, and a reaction against the growing global plastic pollution problem. In each country, the...

This post comes to us from educator Maggie Chumbley of Colegio Bolìvar, in Cali, Colombia; As part of the plastic free campuses initiative here at Colegio Bolìvar, a few student leaders are taking action. Maria Jose Arias, joined by Laura Guiterrez, designed and implemented a three week visual media campaign to create awareness about plastic pollution among the high school and middle school students....

Santa Barbara, CA – On April 2nd, the UCSB Bookstore, Housing and Residential Services, and a coalition of students put aside plastic bags and distributed 3,500 re-usable bags to students in an effort to promote sustainable alternatives. Santa Barbara City Council members, Grant House and Cathy Murillo, and community activist, Kathi King, joined the students and voiced their support for the program. The...

[Right: Student Maria Jose Arias pours iced tea into a reusable bottle at Colegio Bolìvar's plastic free soccer match] Maria Camila Posse, an 11th grade student at Colegio Bolìvar, in Cali, Colombia, shares an update on her school’s progress towards making her campus plastic-free: “Here at Colegio Bolívar, an American school in Cali, Colombia, we are trying to make a difference. For...

Students at White Pine Academy in Leslie, Michigan are spreading the word on plastic pollution through sales of a book that they wrote and illustrated themselves. The fourth grade classroom of teacher Elana Waugh has been learning about all aspects of plastics and plastic pollution, taking those lessons and turning them into a story of their own to teach others. This February, Ms. Waugh had the book...

Earlier this month, the University of Vermont announced a decision to let its exclusive beverage contract expire, and end the sale of bottled water on campus. It has caused quite a stir. UVM is not the first US University to move away from disposable water bottles, but it may be the biggest. Higher ed institutions that have banned the bottle in the US include Macalester College, Seattle University,...