BURLINGTON, Vt. -
Bottled water is officially a persona non grata on the UVM Campus.
The University of Vermont held a special "retirement party" Wednesday for bottled water. UVM says it is the first public university in the country to ban bottled water sales on campus.
Wednesday afternoon it formally unveiled its Monument to Waste.
The sculpture is made of thousands of recycled water bottles and is designed to get folks to think about the impact the plastic has on the environment.
"I think we are an environmental leader in the world and in the nation and this is something that all other universities and restaurants and things like that should get involved with as well," says student Hayley Small.
The formal ban on bottled water will go into effect January 1.
The university is in the process of transforming 75 campus water fountains into filling stations for refillable bottles.
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