SOUTH KINGSTOWN – In an effort to reduce the amount of plastic entering local landfills, a new campuswide program at the University of Rhode Island encourages students to fill reusable bottles and save on charges at campus-based shops.
A partnership with Cupanion, a reusable bottle and water fountain brand, the program requires students to place special stickers on their reusable bottles that record when the containers are refilled and transmits the transaction to a database on the user’s smartphone app.
Since April, there have been nearly 4,600 scans on the URI campus – an average of 19 scans per day and 580 scans per month by the school’s count.
“Cupanion reached out to me and described a great program that other universities are using to help discourage the use of disposable bottles,” said Marsha Garcia, campus sustainability officer, in a statement. “We found the program to be a great fit because we can manage [it] online. We can see how many bottles have been diverted from landfills, how much we’ve saved in disposal costs and how much water the university is helping to give to communities in need.”
Each time a sticker is scanned, points toward a discount at the campus store are earned. Students earn 10 points per scan, and after 100 scans they will receive a 10 percent discount at the URI campus store. In addition, the Cupanion app has its own rewards system through which users can earn gift cards to Starbucks and Target, among other brands.
Emily Gowdey-Backus is a staff writer for PBN. You can follow her on Twitter @FlashGowdey or contact her via email, gowdey-backus@pbn.com.
