Recommendation: Another recommendation to encourage reusable bottle usage is to create standardized posters with images of local nature around campus to indicate the location of the refill stations. Adding these locations to ordinary maps found on the walls inside buildings also makes students more aware of where to find them. Updating the “Michigan App” to include the locations of the water bottle refill stations gives students another way to find nearby stations. A potential sample poster is shown below.
Research: Cheong (2013) surveyed University of Columbia students about their perceived barriers in switching from plastic to reusable bottles and found that they were more likely to use refillable bottles when the water refill stations were clearly marked. Cheong concluded that posters help students overcome the preconceived notion that there are not enough water fountains on campus. Thus, outlining refill stations’ specific locations through posters and maps is a recommendation that reduces students’ barriers to change. Wilk (2006) adds insight into the types of poster designs that could be effective. He concluded that plastic water bottle brands package their water in bottles with natural images, nature-related phrases, and vibrant colors to appeal to consumers. Wilk found that water that originated from exotic places was branded as more sanitary, since it came from less polluted areas. Using Wilk’s findings, the University of Michigan could include similar branding tactics for their refill stations. The refill stations could include images of scenery from a local watershed that show the environment from which the tap water originated. Lastly, he found that posters with standardized logos and images of nature trigger familiarity and eliminate what he cites as a “mental model of the government versus the people.” For example, he suggests that many people associate tap water with government control and natural water with freedom, so including images of nature in the poster designs would increase the chance of people using refill stations.
