While sustainability is clearly a key objective, our business managers have discovered that the water filtration system offers many benefits besides reducing Columbia’s carbon footprint. The system dispenses high volumes of chilled water, relieving the pressure on refrigerated storage, as well as the cost and logistics involved in disposing of vast amounts of plastic waste associated with pre-bottled waters. We have reduced our annual order for pre-bottled waters by approximately 35,000 plastic bottles since implementing the system.
Linen-less tables were introduced at Faculty House in 2018, and the associated environmental impact of laundering and delivering linen lowered water usage by 18.6% in first year.