How Water Bottle Refill Stations Contribute to Campus Sustainability: A Case Study in Japan

Takuro Uehara,Alayna Ynacay-Nye

doi:10.3390/su10093074

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore the feasibility of installing Water bottle Refill Stations (WRSs) and their contributions to campus sustainability by means of encouraging pro-environmental behavior in students. Plastic waste is one of the most critical environmental issues. Therefore, we investigated how WRS can deter students from using disposable plastic bottles. We conducted a survey at a Japanese university to address (1) students’ Willingness To Pay (WTP) to install WRS, (2) their Willingness To Use (WTU) WRSs while acknowledging its environmental benefits, and (3) the impact of communicating information about points (1) and (2). We utilized Goal-Framing Theory (GFT) and the Integrated Framework for Encouraging Pro-Environmental Behavior (IFEP) as the theoretical background of our study. The results of our survey found that the mean WTP was 2211 JPY (1 JPY = 0.01 USD), an amount students would donate just once. This finding indicates students would be willing to pay to install a WRS at their university. The mean WTP students supported would be enough to cover the WRS installation and maintenance costs. According to our study, 58.82% of students stated that they would be willing to use WRS. In doing so, students would save 45,191 disposable plastic bottles and reduce 10,846 kg of related CO2 emissions every year. Our study also showed a statistically significant increase in WTP and WTU WRS as we introduced more and more information about pro-environmental behaviors to students. This finding indicates the importance of information campaigning and learning how to encourage pro-environmental behavior.

Highlights

Campus sustainability as a discipline is of growing importance for university campuses, and for its possible implications for society as a whole [1,2,3]; Universities have a social responsibility to address environmental issues, and they can play unique role in a sustainable society [1]
This section explains our case study results including summary statistics, Willingness To Pay (WTP) for Water bottle Refill Stations (WRSs), and the number of disposable plastic bottles with related CO2 emissions saved if a WRS is installed
Adopting Goal-Framing Theory (GFT) and the Integrated Framework for Encouraging Pro-Environmental Behavior (IFEP) as theoretical frameworks, we hypothesized the installation of WRSs and dissemination of information about WRSs encourages students’ pro-environmental behavior

Summary

Introduction

Campus sustainability as a discipline is of growing importance for university campuses, and for its possible implications for society as a whole [1,2,3]; Universities have a social responsibility to address environmental issues, and they can play unique role in a sustainable society [1] This role could include educating future leaders, researchers, consumers and entrepreneurs [1,4]. Among the various environmental issues universities need to address [5], plastic waste is one of the major issues in the era of “plasticene” [6] or “plastisphere” [7], its management becomes a critical issue [4] It is estimated 8300 million metric tons of virgin plastic have been produced and 79% of it is accumulated in landfills or the natural environment [8]. Jambeck et al [9] estimated 4.8–12.7 million metric tons of plastic waste was dumped into the ocean in 2010 because of insufficient plastic waste management

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