Do You Have a Reusable Bottle? | Hideyuki Nakamine, Administrative Director, Shonan Fujisawa Campus (SFC)
2024.09.10
The hot summer continues, and though the calendar says it's the lingering heat of late summer, I hope everyone is doing well. While the university is on summer break until the end of this month, the second semester has already begun at Keio Shonan Fujisawa Junior and Senior High School.
Now, in this installment of the Okashira Diary, I would like to write about water dispensers, which are becoming an indispensable part of campus life.
The COVID-19 pandemic, which lasted for three years starting in 2020, brought about various changes to our lives. One of these was the shutdown of the water fountains installed on campus. From the beginning of the pandemic, the campus posted notices that the water fountains were out of service and suspended their use. Even after the pandemic subsided, the situation was such that they were not being put back into operation. This was because extensive maintenance would be required to restart them after being shut down for so long, and also because there was a growing tendency to avoid the style of drinking directly from the fountain by putting one's mouth close to it.
Meanwhile, from an SDGs perspective, the idea of carrying a reusable bottle to reduce the use of plastic bottles has become more prominent. At the Shonan Fujisawa Campus (SFC), water dispensers have been installed over the past few years, mainly on the laboratory and office floors, and their use has been spreading among faculty and staff. However, for Keio students, only the aforementioned water fountains were available, and they remained unusable due to the shutdown.
In the 2022 academic year, Keio University launched the Keio University Student Conference with the aim for "selected students from all faculties to propose a vision, goals, and targets for Keio University to achieve the SDGs."
Keio students gathered from all faculties held discussions from an SDGs perspective. Then, at the final proposal presentation on January 11, 2023, several proposals were made, and these were passed on to the relevant departments within Keio to consider their feasibility and implementation.
One of those proposals set forth the following goal:
"Install water dispensers in all facilities on campus by 2030"
This goal reached the Office for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion. Let me take a moment to introduce the Office for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion, which has just appeared. The Office for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion was established in April 2018 with the objective "to build an environment where faculty, staff, and students at all levels can respect each other's personalities, recognize diverse values, and live cooperatively, and to respond swiftly to issues related to the acceptance of diversity." It operates with the aim of leading the formation of a symbiotic society in Japan by promoting initiatives related to "work-life balance," "barrier-free access," and "diversity."
I also serve as the Acting Administrative Director of this office, and I believed that this proposal from the Keio University Student Conference was extremely important in this day and age and should be realized as soon as possible. Therefore, to bring this proposal from the Keio University Student Conference to life, we coined the phrase "Symbiosis with the Global Environment" and began activities to install water dispensers as one of the initiatives of the Office for Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion.
The first step was a trial installation of water dispensers on each campus (one to two units per campus). This was carried out for a limited period from July to the end of December 2023, and we decided to gather feedback from Keio students through a survey. At the Shonan Fujisawa Campus (SFC), one unit was installed in each of the Omega Building, Kappa Building, and the Faculty of Nursing and Medical Care Building (these locations were where water fountains were originally installed). For details, please see the website below, but this was an unprecedented initiative for Keio University and attracted a great deal of attention within Keio.
Furthermore, I determined that we needed to take another step to widely publicize the installation of the water dispensers. The idea was to hold an event to actively promote the water dispensers by distributing reusable bottles and holding a "stamp rally." We selected a reusable bottle that prioritized portability over cooling performance, created a custom Keio design, and distributed the finished bottles together with members of the Keio University Student Conference.
Next, we held the "stamp rally." Initially, we considered placing a rubber stamp and ink pad next to the water dispensers for people to stamp a designated sheet each week, but considering the issues of managing the stamps and ink, as well as the burden of tallying the results after the event, we came up with a more modern method. This method involved putting up posters with QR codes near the water dispensers, which participants would scan to access a specific screen and register their student ID number. By doing this once a week for four consecutive weeks (posting a new poster with a different QR code each week), participants could collect four "stamps" (by registering their student ID number over four weeks). The hurdle of collecting four stamps seemed to be quite high; while over 800 stamps were collected in the first week, the number of registered participants eventually dropped to around 300. Nevertheless, there is no doubt that a great number of Keio students participated in this project, and I believe it was a very meaningful initiative. Additionally, we held a lottery for Keio students who collected four stamps (registered their student ID for four weeks) and gave away wonderful prizes (with choices including sweatpants with the Keio Univ. logo). These prizes were also decided upon after much discussion with the members of the Keio University Student Conference.
● Four posters displayed for the 2023 Stamp Rally
In addition, a survey was conducted at the same time as this "stamp rally," which strongly confirmed the need for water dispensers. Based on these results, it was decided to permanently install new water dispensers on each campus. While not yet in "all facilities" as proposed by the Keio University Student Conference, this means that water dispensers have now been installed in many of the buildings used by Keio students on each campus. At the Shonan Fujisawa Campus (SFC), they were newly installed in the Sigma Building, Mu Building, and the Gymnasium (Gamma Building).
Furthermore, anticipating a significant increase in the demand for drinking water heading into summer, we held another reusable bottle distribution and "stamp rally" in June 2024 to publicize the new installations. After discussions with the members of the Keio University Student Conference that reflected on the previous event, we selected and distributed the reusable bottles (the item was the same as before, but the text design was changed to a new one featuring The Pen Mark) and held the "stamp rally." As before, the wonderfully designed posters were created by a student participating in the Keio University Student Conference.
● Four posters displayed for the 2024 Stamp Rally
In just one year, the number of water dispensers has expanded from only a few across all campuses to several dozen, and at the Shonan Fujisawa Campus (SFC), it has become common to see many Keio students carrying their reusable bottles. Of course, for me as well, my reusable bottle has become an indispensable companion. During the hot summer, I repeatedly fill my bottle with cold water to quench my thirst, then refill it again.
Now, there is one thing I learned from this event that I would like to share with you in closing. Although I wrote about "cold water" above, the survey results revealed that many people responded, "I drink room-temperature water!" I also asked my staff colleagues, and it seems there are just as many "room-temperature water fans" as there are "cold water fans." This was a very surprising fact for me, but considering the burden on the stomach and intestines, it seems that choosing "room-temperature water" is better for the body, even in the summer. Of course, with the water dispensers installed on each campus, you can switch between "cold water" and "room-temperature water" with the touch of a button. I hope everyone will use them according to their preference.
And so, in this installment of the Okashira Diary, I have touched upon the year-long effort, starting from the summer of 2023, to promote the use of water dispensers.
The late summer heat looks like it will continue for a while longer. Why don't you take this opportunity to start carrying a reusable bottle?