Media releases

Federation University Australia will ban the sale of single use plastic water bottles on all of its university and TAFE campuses across Victoria in 2019.

Director of Campus Life Colin Marshall was joined by first-year university students at the Mount Helen campus to make the announcement on the first day of Orientation Week (O Week).

Under the ban, bottled water will no longer be sold in vending machines, food outlets or shops on the university’s Ballarat, Berwick, Gippsland or Wimmera campuses.

Instead, students and staff can either bring their own reusable bottle or buy a high-quality reusable glass or metal water bottle that they can fill up for free at drinking water stations to be installed across all campuses.

This will help stop around 18,000 plastic water bottles from ending up in landfill, waterways or the environment every year.

The University will work with the Student Senate and staff on the roll out, with all campuses to be plastic water bottle free by the end of 2019.

Quotes attributable to Director of Campus Life Colin Marshall:

“It’s up to universities to practice what we preach around sustainability – on one hand we have researchers doing world leading environmental research but on the other, we’re selling plastic water bottles that pollute our waterways.”

“We have some of the best tap water in the world so there’s simply no need to buy bottled water and as a university, we need to be part of the war on waste and help change people’s behaviour.”

“Our students want this, our staff want this and it’s the right thing to do.”

Quotes attributable to Student Senate Sustainability representative Francis Licciardi:

“Students are really excited to see the university listening to us and taking real action on sustainability.”

“Having the water bottle refill stations on campus is a fantastic idea – it makes it easier for students to do the right thing for the environment without causing any financial stress.”