University’s Ban on Bottled Water Stirs Controversy

This article is from Fox Business
By Kathryn Tuggle

If you become thirsty while on the University of Vermont campus, don’t bother looking for bottled water. This year, the school will become the first campus in the U.S. to completely restrict the sale of bottled water in vending machines and any food establishments. The university will spend the next year installing “filling stations” for reusable water bottles around campus, and by January 2013, the school will be completely single-use water bottle free.

The move comes as part of a healthy campus initiative that also mandates one-third of all drinks sold on campus be “healthy options,” like juice and tea, and no beverage offering can contain high fructose corn syrup. The university has been in contract with Coca-Cola of Northern New England for the last 10 years, which provided more than 1.1 million bottles of soda and water to the campus’ 57 vending machines, retail outlets and dining halls every year. That contract expires in May 2012, and the university will not renew it.