Kingston may be next in line to become a plastic water bottle-free university

Kingston’s student union is going to campaign to follow other universities such as Leeds and Sheffield in reducing and with the aim of finally banning the sale of plastic water bottles.

This comes after a successful motion was passed at the second Big Student Meeting last week titled “ban all plastic water bottles from all Kingston University campuses.”

In light of the motion passing, the student union will work to improve existing water fountains to help ease the transition of becoming a plastic water bottle-free university.

The union will also organise a student design competition for new water fountains and reusable KU water bottles.

Maria Isabella Grech, the motion proposer and curating contemporary design student, said: “Plastic bottles themselves will not be banned from campus but water in plastic bottles will eventually not be sold on all campuses.”

The motion proposer argued that the number of water fountains across the university is not enough, they are in bad locations and that they are not efficient for filling water bottles.

They also said that it is our responsibility to engage with environmental concerns as individuals and as a university.

She also highlighted a campaign to make London the first plastic water bottle-free capital by 2021 called #oneless organised by the Zoological Society of London (ZSL).