The University of Michigan should modify the Planet Blue water bottle to encourage students to increase their usage of the refillable bottles. The program modifications would include decreasing the water bottle size and customizing the bottles to each residence hall.
Decrease Water Bottle Size
Recommendation: In order for the University of Michigan to increase the usage of the Planet Blue water bottles, the volume size of the free Planet Blue water bottles should be reduced from 24 oz. to 20 oz. This would make the bottles more portable and easier to carry around, increasing the likelihood that students will use the bottles.
Research: Chang et al. (2010) designed a survey that would collect information about what people found to be the most bothersome aspect of a water bottle and what they looked for in an ideal bottle. She targeted faculty and students at Rochester Institute of Technology and University of Rochester, and employees in the downtown Rochester area. She collected data via paper-based questionnaires, online questionnaires, and face-to-face interviews. She asked the question “what is, or what would be, the most important aspect of carrying a reusable water bottle with you?” This was a multiple choice question, with 73% of the respondents answering “portability,” 24% answering “functionality,” and 3% answering “appearance.” People stated that the weight of a full large water bottle is an inconvenience, and when they are empty, they are simply too bulky. They also mentioned that it would be ideal to have a bottle that is as small as possible. This would increase the portability and increase the likelihood they would use a reusable bottle instead of a plastic throw-away bottle.
Customize Water Bottles to Each Residence Hall
Recommendation: The water bottles should be customized for each dorm. The changes to each bottle would be small. Simply adding the name of the dorm on the side of the bottle would suffice. Doing so would build a tighter community and allow them to feel as though they are making a bigger impact, rather than being lost in the large size of the University.
Research: Using data on perceptions of tap water and demographics, Hu et al. (2011) found a correlation between the population of a community and how people within the community perceived tap water. He used data from a random mail survey conducted by Dr. Robert Mahler of the University of Idaho. The survey grouped respondents based on their source of water and asked people about their perceptions of tap water and their community sizes. They found that community size had a positive relationship with users of bottled water, meaning that community size increases with water bottle use. Factors like media claiming that tap water is unsafe to drink, commercials on bottled water, and peer-pressure to use bottled water to appear more fashionable are reasons why larger communities may have an increased amount of water bottle use. Therefore, the program could be more effective if the large campus community was divided into smaller ones. Building a tighter community would allow students to feel as though they are making a bigger environmental impact.
