As summer vacation ended and students returned to our university, there were a number of changes that were evident around campus.

One important change that supports Mercyhurst’s continuing effort to promote a more sustainable campus environment, was the installation of its first Evive Station. The first station is located on the second floor of Old Main, with plans for installing many more around campus. This addition represents a way to decrease the use of bottled water on campus by providing a station that both fills and sanitizes reusable bottles.
Sami Rapp photo: Students and faculty alike have reacted positively to the Evive bottle system.

The Evive unit has two sections. The first section will fill any size reusable bottle with chilled, filtered water. The other section is designed exclusively for the Evive bottles. This section sanitizes the Evive bottle by using UV light and then fills it with filtered, chilled water. While this 90 second process is occurring the station’s screen will display campus news, ask you survey questions and display other useful information. The Evive bottles are sold at the Mercyhurst Bookstore and on the manufacturer’s website.

Student response to the Evive bottles has been positive. Art education student Megan O’Polka believes the concept motivates people to join the initiative.

“I’ve been using the Evive station since it arrived on campus this summer. I think it is a cool concept and I definitely drank more water because of it. I hope they add more stations around campus throughout the year,” she said.

These bottles are made of BPA free plastic and have Passive RFID Tags on the bottom. The tags allow you access to the sanitizing section of the station. Evive also has a smart phone app that enables you to track your average consumption of water as well as the estimate of the number of plastic bottles that you have not used.

The Evive system is clearly a better alternative to using and recycling plastic water bottles.

Some students, however, consider the idea to be somewhat silly.

Junior Gary Loo said, “it is a very ridiculous idea. It’s nice, but it’s just a huge water fountain.”

Plans have been made to add more stations to the Mercyhurst campus throughout the year, starting with three new stations, tentatively dated for installation by the end of November at the latest.

For more information on the bottle system, visit www.evivestation.com.