Greenwich High School has made many efforts to become a more environmentally friendly school. The installation of the solar panels, the blue recycling bins attached to the garbage cans, and the campus clean ups have all pushed our school in a greener direction.
As I sat in AP Environmental Science class last week, I was introduced to an idea that sparked one word in my mind: revolutionary. My teacher was holding a simple water bottle in his hand with the label "Green Planet Water" on it, a water bottle made 100% from plants that is petroleum and BPA free. It is commercially compostable and reusable, containing vapor-distilled water enriched with magnesium and potassium.
The first words out of my mouth were, "So... why don’t we sell them at school?"
This thought pushed the first domino that would soon become my fervent quest to get Greenwich High School to switch from Poland Springs plastic water bottles to Green Planet Water 100% plant water bottles.
So, I began doing some research. Green Planet Water started out as a small company in Chicago, Illinois. The bottles are made from a corn compound called Ingeo. The manufacturing of the bottles requires 50% less non-renewable energy and emits 60% less greenhouse gases than traditional plastic water bottles. The bottles are filled by regional suppliers of water and vapor-distilled. The bottles can be commercially composted or recycled as category 7. If placed in landfills, these bottles will not release methane because they are plant based. The price for a bottle sold at school is $0.89, less than Poland Springs.
I understand that the best way to solve our water bottle problem is by banning water bottles sales in general, but Poland Springs is one the school cafeteria's best selling products. Students in the past have tried to persuade the school to stop selling water bottles, but the answer has been no. So instead, I have proposed this alternative to our headmaster: switching from Poland Springs to Green Planet water bottles.
All there is left to do is wait for a response. But I assure you, between the GHS Environmental Action Club, the AP Environmental Science classes, the Green Planet water company, myself, and anyone else willing to give their support, we will put the “green” in Greenwich High School, one Green Planet water bottle at a time.
For more information on Green Planet please visit:
http://www.greenplanetbottling.com/homepage
