We, the students of Ithaca College and concerned citizens of the world, demand that plastic bags and disposable plastic water bottles be banned from Ithaca College stores and vending machines.

Plastic bags and water bottles contain materials that are toxic to the environment, harm animals, take a long period of time to break down, and their lack of reusability creates excessive waste of valuable materials.  By removing plastic bags and plastic water bottles from campus, Ithaca College can promote the reduction of plastic waste, endorsing environmental conservation.

 

Some Facts about Plastic (from epa.gov):

     -32 million tons of plastic waste were generated in the United States in 2011 alone.

     -Only 8 percent of the total plastic waste generated in 2011 was recovered for recycling.

     Although this may seem like an unattainable goal, it can be seen from the University of Vermont, a school almost four times the size of IC, has previously accomplished the goal of removing the sale of disposable plastic bottles on campus.

 

Possible Alternatives:

For plastic bags:

     -Charge a fee for each plastic bag given out at on-campus locations.

     -Sell affordable reusable bags at stores.

     -Give away reusable bags with the school’s logo as a way to promote the school’s association with cutting down on waste while reducing a need for plastic bags.

For Plastic water bottles:

     -Sell reusable water bottles at on-campus stores or give away reusable water bottles to students.

     -Install more water bottle “refill stations” at locations around campus to save more water than water fountains and make refilling water bottles easy.