Water bottle refill stations are dotted across campus offering the Fresno State community the opportunity to reduce their plastic consumption. Since their installation, these stations have supplied the equivalent of more than 3 million standard bottles of filtered, clean and cool water to students! This effort alone has cumulatively conserved in excess of 51,000 kilograms of plastic, and offset emissions in the production process to the tune of 253,000 kilograms of carbon dioxide. Additionally, the production of this quantity of plastic would otherwise require 16 million liters of water.

This is a marked step toward the CSU’s goal of reducing single-use plastics, which the CSU is committed to eliminating, including bottled water, from all 23 campuses by 2023. The success of the refill stations coincides with priority three of Fresno State’s current strategic plan to “align our physical and technological infrastructure to support a sustainable and welcoming campus environment.”

Since 2013, Facilities Management, in conjunction with students in the Sustainability Club and the Sustainability Task Force, have made incremental and substantive changes that over the years have developed a culture of sustainability on campus. Making concrete changes to consumption habits is at the core of the mission of waste reduction. The Sustainability Club, in collaboration with the ASI Senator for Sustainability, continues to advocate for the expansion of the refill network and for other renewable programs across campus to meet the goals set forth in the CSU Sustainability Policy.

To contribute more to these ongoing efforts, please use one of the water bottle filling stations. More information on sustainability at Fresno State can be found here.