An environmentally friendly bottling scheme led by St Andrews University will see more than 40,000 plastic bottles removed from circulation every year.
And it will be only the first of many other green initiatives at the historic Fife university.
In partnership with water filter and dispenser company BRITA, the university has installed a glass bottling system to provide bottled water for delivered catering across the campus.
This will cut the reliance on single-use plastic bottled water by 19,000 units every year.
In addition, the company has installed self-service still and sparkling water dispensing units in its three retail cafés for staff and students.
This will save an estimated additional 21,000 single-use plastic bottles of water.
The installation of the dispenser will allow for glass bottling of unlimited quantities of pure, chilled still and sparkling water.
This eliminates the need to purchase environmentally unfriendly and expensive pre-bottled waters.
The water bottling system substantially reduces the cost of purchasing single-use, pre-bottled waters and also eliminates the need to transport and store bottled water.
The university’s event operations delivered catering assistant manager Gemma McNicoll-Brown said: “Sustainability is a key element in the university’s new strategic plan.
“We strive to work with businesses whose principles and commitments to the environment and sustainability align with our own.
“Our new partnership with BRITA is the first in many new green initiatives we will be implementing across the university to play our part in a greener future.
“The elimination of single-use plastic bottles of water is our first step towards making a cleaner, greener and sustainable future for staff, students and the local community.”
The university has a long-term goal to send zero food waste to landfill and is currently in the process of installing its own composter on site.
Additional green initiatives undertaken by the university include the move to replace disposable products to recyclable and/or compostable alternatives where possible within retail outlets and delivered catering.
During the week-long summer graduation period, the university composted more than one ton of food waste.
