A campaign to ban the sale of bottled water at the Union gained new support this week.
On Tuesday and Thursday People and Planet Sheffield held petition stalls at the University to raise the profile of its campaign against bottled water and to share concerns with students over the environmental implications.
Union Council members will vote on the proposal to ban bottled water in April. If passed, the proposal will then be put to a campus wide referendum.
People and Planet Sheffield hope that if it is successful in banning bottled water in the Union, it can start work on making the rest of the University “bottle-free”.
The recommendations would see bottled water removed from Union shops and replaced by a series of free water fountains spread throughout the campus – a system already in place at Leeds University and Leeds Metropolitan Unions.
People and Planet Sheffield believe that abandoning bottles, would cut the Union’s carbon footprint significantly, as well as saving students money.
Supporting the petition, Politics student Pat McKenna said: “Hydration is a basic human right. I don’t see why we should have to pay a corporation for that freedom.”
But some students were against the idea. First year Sarah Thompson said: “I don’t trust water fountains. People can do anything to them.”
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