Having just signed a contract with a “preferred vendor” (a fancy term for a lot of work done ferreting out the myriad of suppliers and products out there) for bottle-less water coolers and filters, UHN is ready to move into the next phase of its bottled water phase out.

We’ve already managed to do a fair bit since our Senior Management Team decided to start the phase-out…our Catering department, in yet another of their leading green initiatives, took bottled water off the menu and replaced it with refillable jugs, and many departments have already removed their bottled water coolers, replacing them with bottle-less units or – wait for it – not replacing them at all!

Now we all know the usual reasons for reducing our bottled water in-take (and if you don’t, you should check out Annie Leonard’s most excellent “The Story of Bottled Water” at http://storyofstuff.org/bottledwater/ – come to think of it, even if you do know the reasons, you should check out the video), but in making the change people have let us know of a couple of other benefits from switching. 

Number one is that, without all of those bottles, (empty, full or halfway empty or full, depending on if you’re in an optimistic or pessimistic mood), departments getting rid of bottled water find they have space…which really is the final frontier. 

And number two is that those big ol’ water jugs are heavy, and no bottles means no lifting and, perhaps more importantly, no embarrassment as you gracefully try to wrestle a full jug on to the cooler.

All in all, an initiative definitely worth drinking to!!

-ed