Back to Tap Water The Back to Tap Water campaign was a joint
effort by ESAC, the Environmental Proctors, and the
Environmental Club. It grew naturally out of a recycling
campaign which was intended to raise awareness of our recycling
program and encourage community members to recycle. The analysis
of the One Week’s Worth of Containers that showed that 40% of
recycled containers were disposable water bottles led to our
subsequent efforts to reduce the unnecessary and wasteful use of
disposable water bottles, hence, the Back to Tap Water Campaign.
One Week’s Worth of Containers During one week in November 2009,
Deerfield set up large bins in front of the Dining Hall to
display all the metal, glass, and plastic containers we captured
for recycling during one week. At the end of the week, students
from the Environmental Studies classes helped to count and
categorize these containers. The result showed that 80% of the
containers recycled were plastic and that 40% of the containers
were disposable water bottles suc