Starting in 2009, McMaster’s Facility Services retrofitted one fountain in every academic and administrative building on campus. The retrofits are accompanied by an educational campaign and signage, courtesy of Media Production Services, promoting the use of refillable water bottles.

In 2010, Facility Services retrofitted another 13 fountains, and the MSU designated itself a Plastic-Bottle-Free Zone. In 2011, fountains were updated with a new fountain model that included a filter system, and the MSU expanded their work by approving a Plastic-Bottle-Free Policy and creating an online Plastic-Bottle-Free Pledge. 

McMaster’s Facility Services continued to invest in filtered water refill stations, reaching a total of more than 200 stations, which were installed in academic and administrative buildings across campus.

In recent years, the issue of plastic bottles surfaced from faculty, staff, and students, inspiring an investigation into the situation at McMaster. The resurgence of this issue may have been initiated by the several post-secondary institutions that banned the sale of bottled water. Lay literature presents opinions both for and against such a ban, with opponents citing consequences including reduction in consumer choice, economic impacts, and greater consumption of sugar beverages that are also sold in plastic (Source: The Harvard Crimson). The academic literature on outcomes of such bans is limited, and the findings are inconclusive with one study demonstrating that a ban in isolation resulted in an increase in plastic waste and consumption of sugar beverages.

In addition to fountain retrofits still taking place on campus, several initiatives are underway. A summary of recent initiatives follows: 

SUSTAIN 2SS3 – Leadership in Sustainability, Summer 2020 

With support from their Project Champions from Hospitality Services, students conducted secondary research about the outcomes of bottle bans. Despite being ‘pro-ban’ when they started, students reported the environmental and health risks of banning bottles without additional research and a strategy in place.  

SUSTAIN 3S03 – Implementing Sustainable Change, Fall 2021 

With support from their Project Champions from Hospitality Services and Housing and Conference Services, students conducted both a quantitative and textual analysis of data captured as part of the 2019 Rez-Wide Survey. Findings show that, of the 800+ respondents, 80% purchase bottled water and 60% keep cases of water in their residence room. Findings from the textual analysis suggest that respondents propose greater access, filtered water, and strategies by the university, such as a ban.

Note that most residence buildings did not have refill stations at this time of the survey, but filtered water spouts have since been installed. 

SUSTAIN 4S06 – Leadership in Sustainability, Fall 2021 – Winter 2022 

With support from their Community Project Champions from Hospitality Services and Residence Life, students interviewed current, sustainability-minded residence students about their perceptions of water bottle refilling and reuse. Following qualitative thematic analysis, findings suggest that ‘accessibility’ related to proximity across campus and the high costs of bottled water were the two largest drivers to water bottle refilling and reuse. Additionally, participants preferred high-quality and filtered water sources.

While SUSTAIN 3S03 and SUSTAIN 4S06 students were conducting their research on student perceptions of water bottle refilling and reuse, Integrated Sciences student, Adrianna Diab, focused her ISCI Independent Project on the promotion of water bottle refilling and reuse to McMaster residence students. With support from her project champions from the Academic Sustainability Programs Office and McMaster Okanagan Office of Health & Well-being, Adrianna brought together a group of diverse stakeholders to develop a communications campaign. 

In January of 2022, the McMaster Okanagan Office of Health & Well-being endorsed the Bring Your Own Bottle Working Group and their mission to promote water bottle refilling and reuse while decreasing reliance on single use plastics. The group’s goals and actions focused on: 

• Creation of an interactive map of water fountains across campus.  
• Development of webpage with the map, FAQ, project updates, and opportunities for experiential learning.  
• Installation of signage at water refill stations on campus and in residence. 
• Communication to incoming residence students.  

With endorsement from their sponsors and champions from McMaster’s senior leadership, the group was successful in securing two grants that enabled Adrianna to continue her work as a part-time student project coordinator over the Summer of 2022.  

Between the fall of 2021 and the end of summer 2022, the Working Group successfully accomplished all their objectives.

The group is looking forward to supporting several upcoming student experiential learning projects, which will focus on data collection and analysis as well as residence student engagement.  

• Alicia Westfall*, Health & Safety Specialist, Human Resources Services and Leah Allan*, Lab Safety Specialist, Human Resources Services led coordination of water quality testing in all campus buildings and developed robust Health & Safety processes for annual water testing and filter replacement. While standards existed for water testing and filter replacement existed before, Alicia and Leah implemented an approved process that establishes McMaster as a leader in quality assurance.  
• Chris Roberts*, Director, Hospitality Services, served on the Working Group since inception, and has supported student experiential learning for several years, including providing access to water bottle sales data for analysis and tracking.  
• Craig MacDonald*, Director of Maintenance Services, Facility Services, and John Hemmer, Acting Director, Maintenance Services, Facility Services; led the strategy, funding, and installation of more than 200 refill stations across campus and their associated promotional signage. Craig served on the Working Group since inception, and John joined the Working Group as Acting Director of Maintenance Services. Both were leaders on this initiative since the initial filters were installed in 2009.  
• Facility Services and Housing & Conferences Services who undertook installation of new refill stations and newly-designed signage. 
• Kate Whalen*, Associate Director, Academic Sustainability Programs Office; has been involved in the initiative since 2009, served on the Working Group since inception, and supported and continues to support sustainability student experiential learning projects. 
• Lynn Armstrong*, Administrator, McMaster Okanagan Office of Health & Well-being (MOOHW); has worked on a variety of health and well-being initiatives, bringing her experience to the Working Group, which she served on since inception. Lynn has provided support and guidance in the initiative finding a home with the MOOHW.  
• Megan Bieksa*, Communications Manager, Facility Services; has served on the working group since inception and leads the communications strategy and materials development. Megan has written a Daily News article about the initiative to spread awareness of the newly launched campaign. 
• Monica Palkowski*, Living Learning Coordinator, Housing and Conference Services; has served on the working group since inception and helps advise on communication strategy, initiative direction, and scope from the perspective of student residence. 
• Payton Truyens*, Student Representative, McMaster Centre for Climate Change Student Chapter; joined the working group to provide student insight on the campaign and contribute as someone who is involved with climate work. 
• Shelir Ebrahimi*, Assistant Professor, Department of Chemical Engineering; joined the working group and contributes to education opportunities of the initiative from her perspective as both an environmental engineer and as a part of the Engineering Experiential Learning office. 
• McMaster Okanagan Office of Health & Well-being provided the McMaster Okanagan Special Project Funding for Adrianna to continue her leadership in a staff position. 
• The ISWO Diversity Inclusion Award offered by Student Success provided additional funding for Adrianna to continue her role.  
• Holly Gibson, Manager, Marketing & Communications, Housing and Conference Services, and the Residence Life communications team; have helped develop communications material and disseminate it to incoming and new residence students. 
• Richard Valentine, Associate Director, and Naz Kittani, Marketing Coordinator, from McMaster’s Marketing Department in collaboration with Simon Oakley, Creative Development Manager, Media Production Services, kindly contributed the design and production of the campaign logo and all branded promotional material. 
• Dozens of students who provided feedback on the initiative name, logo, and communication strategy. 
• Susan Tighe, Provost and Vice-President (Academic); Saher Fazilat, Vice-President (Operations and Finance); Paul O’Byrne, Dean and Vice-President, Faculty of Health Sciences; Debbie Martin, Assistant Vice-President/Chief Facilitites Officer, Facility Services; Deidre Henne, Assistant Vice-President (Administration) & CFO; Wanda McKenna, Assistant Vice-President & Chief Human Resources Officer; Kevin Beatty, Director and Conference Services. These individuals acted as sponsors and champions to help guide and endorse the Working Groups’ efforts and actions.  

*Working Group Members