Opinion: Plymouth River Second Graders Support the Single Use Plastic Water Bottle Ban

April 17, 2023 by Cyndi Bonani, Grade 2 Teacher, Plymouth River School

My second grade students and I would like to voice our support for the single use plastic water bottle ban that is being proposed in Hingham. When I asked my students if they knew why the town might be considering this, their answers showed that they truly understand the importance of this issue. “Single use water bottles are bad because they use plastic and plastic does not decompose. It can get in the ocean and hurt sea animals and they can choke on it and die or get sick. If bottles go in the trash, they don’t get made into something else. They go to a landfill and take up space.” Clearly these seven and eight year olds get it.

One of my students asked, “Why is it just water?  Why not all plastic bottles?”  I explained that soda and juice don’t come out of a sink or water fountain, but water does. It is a first step in what hopefully will be the phasing out of plastic bottles in years to come. At Plymouth River School, the cafeteria stopped selling single use water bottles earlier this year, and the transition has been seamless. “We take our reusable water bottles to lunch or we drink milk!” Our school has two hydration stations with filtered water, with plans to install a third soon. There is simply no need for any student to purchase a bottle of water.

It is imperative that we teach our children that their actions matter, their voices matter, and that positive change can happen when people work together. At a time when they are bombarded with frightening scenarios of the future of the planet, let’s show them that they can make a difference, one small step at a time.

I envision a future where my students will be telling their children that they used to buy water in plastic bottles, and that those children of the future will not be able to imagine such a thing.

For the sake of our planet, for the sake of our children, for the sake of our children’s children, please support the single use water bottle ban in Hingham.