CASE STUDY
City of Davis, California
On October 23, 2007, the City of Davis, California adopted restrictions on the city purchase and use of single serving sizes of bottled water as part of its overall efforts to reduce waste and greenhouse gas emissions associated with the production, shipping and recycling of single servings of bottled water.
After learning about the City's commitment to reduce its carbon footprint by limiting its overall plastic waste, Nalgene contacted City of Davis officials to help aid in the City's green initiative.
In August 2008, Nalgene donated 1,100 reusable bottles to the City of Davis to aid in the City's community wide effort to reduce its amount of plastic waste produced each year. Fifty-percent of the bottles were distributed to City of Davis employees to use in place of bottled water, while the other fifty-percent of donated bottles were used to promote the City's greenhouse gas emissions reduction/community sustainability programs through sale or free give-away. All proceeds of bottles sold are used to support the City's greenhouse gas emissions reduction/community sustainability programs.
All City of Davis recipients who received one of the 1,100 Nalgene bottles, have made a commitment to use their reusable Nalgene bottle in place of bottled water. If each of these recipients was formerly drinking just one bottle of water each day, Nalgene's donation of reusable bottles to the City of Davis will save more than 400,000 plastic bottles from going into the landfill in just one year.
The program has received a great amount of attention since it was announced last month. Thus far we've had interest from cities in Colorado, Idaho and New York State.
CASE STUDY
Monroe County, New York
As part of their sustainability platform, Monroe County, New York is taking small yet important steps to reduce disposable plastic water bottles from taking up valuable landfill space.
Working with Monroe County based Nalgene, the two organizations developed a program to position Monroe County to make a difference by providing an eco-friendly solution to bottled water. The new Refill Not Landfill program encourages residents to use a refillable bottle for their water consumption needs.
The benefit of the program is three-fold.
First, Refill Not Landfill helps to educate and encourage local residents to take part in the county's efforts to keep the environment clean and safe.
Residents also benefit directly from each bottle purchase. They are no longer spending money on expensive bottled water by having a quality reusable bottle. And with two dollars from every bottle purchase going to beautiful Monroe County parks, they can be confident that their community's green space is going to be well cared for.
Second, the program helps to reduce unnecessary waste from going to the landfill, which helps the entire community save money and time.
And third, the program encourages the quality tap water that Monroe County delivers to residents every day by highlighting key facts about the safety and health of the County's tap water on each bottle.
"We're proud to partner with local business Thermo Fisher Scientifc and the Monroe County Water Authority to educate County residents about the importance of keeping disposable plastic water bottles out of area landfills," said Maggie Brooks, Monroe County Executive.
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