No more plastic at the University: after launching the first environmental sustainability projects, installing water dispensers in many of its buildings and setting up Green Offices, the University of Bologna is donating, with the support of Fondazione Carisbo, a water bottle to new students who are enrolled in degree programmes and single cycle degrees for the academic year 2019/2020 in order to reduce the use of plastic and promote eco-sustainability.
A water bottle will be given out as a gift to students enrolled in Alma Mater degree programmes and single cycle degrees for the academic year 2019/20: this project was implemented by the University with the support of Fondazione Carisbo and approved by the Student Board and other University Bodies. This is one of the many initiatives planned as part of the Sustainable Multicampus Project of the University of Bologna which, for some years now, has been investing in raising awareness and in promoting green behaviour in Bologna and in the Campuses of Romagna.
In fact, in 2018, the Alma Mater launched Plastop to gradually eliminate plastic from University spaces. The trial phase began with the installation of a water house and dispensers at the new Campus in Cesena, to be extended to other sites of the University.
In the next few months, students will therefore be able to fill up their water bottle at the water houses that will be installed in the most strategic areas of the University, both in Bologna and in Romagna.
The Alma Mater water bottles, created with the support of Fondazione Carisbo, will be produced by the company 24bottles, which won the contract and will ensure its products have a neutral environmental footprint, thanks to a specific tree replanting project. In addition, it will work with the University of Bologna on other initiatives in the field of environmental sustainability.
All new students enrolled in the academic year 2019/20 will be able to collect their water bottles from the UniboStore in Piazza Verdi and from the University Sports Centre of Bologna (CUSB) and at its local offices, at the times and in the manner specified by the University in an e-mail that will be sent to them in December 2019.
The Unibo branded water bottles are now also available to the public for purchase at the UniboStore in Piazza Verdi and on UniboStore online.
These are not the only environmental sustainability projects implemented by the Alma Mater: in fact, since last spring, plastic cups and stirrers have been removed from some vending machines in four University buildings in Bologna in order to determine and test their technical feasibility. After having received positive feedback, in the next few months this initiative will be extended to the entire University in cooperation with the vending machine service provider.
The aim is to eliminate single-use plastic also in catering services: in fact, the University has new contracts for paper or bio-compostable plates, cutlery and crockery and, as the existing concessions expire, it will gradually become mandatory in all Unibo catering facilities.
Anna Zanoli, Chairman of the Student Board, stressed the importance of the green projects of the Alma Mater, not only for students: "The desire to do something tangible to make our University become a place where students can study in harmony with the environment has brought me closer to the world of university student representation. I am now chairing the Student Council and I am very pleased with the steps taken by our University towards achieving greater sustainability: we hope we can continue in this way by building a community of students, lecturers and staff who are increasingly aware of and attentive to the choices we make on a daily basis, who can work together and look to the future with efficient and long-lasting projects that take into account the views of the scientific community, but which also invest in all areas of knowledge."