The University of Washington prides itself on being a leader in sustainability, but it is currently not doing all that it can to reduce carbon emissions and the waste that ends up in landfills. In particular, the UW continues to allow the sale of disposable water bottles, which contribute to the University’s carbon footprint and the amount of plastic it sends to landfills. While many universities across the United States have banned the sale of disposable water bottles on their campuses, including five Washington State schools, the University of Washington has not made
an effort to do the same. To address this problem, my project identifies the critical steps that the University of Washington needs to take in order to stop selling bottled water at their Seattle campus. To do this I wrote a report analyzing the human, environmental, and economic impacts of divesting from disposable water bottles on the University of Washington Seattle campus and then created a set of suggestions for the administration, detailing what needs to be done for the University to successfully stop selling bottled water. Getting the University of Washington to divest from selling disposable plastic water bottles on its Seattle campus will benefit student and environmental health.